Vietnamese Man Wants a “Book Revolution” in his Country

December 12, 2012

Three school children use books borrowed from a library established by philanthropist Nguyen Quang Thach

From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report in Special English.

A Vietnamese man hopes to raise the quality of education in his country by building “parent libraries” in rural schools. Nguyen Quang Thach provides libraries to the schools so books are more available in farming communities. He works with publishers in Hanoi to get the books at reduced rates for teachers and their students.

Mr. Thach says most schools have enough textbooks. But he says many poor families have few books at home and do not visit school libraries. He learned this by talking with farmers, workers and students.

More than 90 percent of Vietnam’s population can read and write. But academic performance in the schools remains low compared to other Southeast Asian nations. Corruption is a big part of the problem. Vietnamese media often have stories about teachers giving high grades in exchange for money.

Some experts criticize teaching methods that depend heavily on dictation. They say asking students to repeat everything a teacher says to the class harms their ability to think for themselves.

Nguyen Quang Thach says he wants people to invest money in books for a better future. To date, almost 1,000 parent libraries have been built in Thai Benh Province. Hundreds of books are in each one. Several other provinces have copied this model.