Gio Linh district focuses on investing in completing the school library system and developing the reading movement.

Gio Linh district leaders commend schools with outstanding achievements in library and school equipment work in the period 2021-2025 - Photo: HA

Principal of Gio Quang Kindergarten Tran Thi Lai said that preschool education does not stop at care but also aims at comprehensive development of children in terms of physical, emotional, intellectual and aesthetic aspects.

One of the factors contributing to that development is the preschool library, where reading habits are instilled, thinking is stimulated and children's souls are nurtured.

Over the past time, the school has always focused on mobilizing social resources to build a modern library, bringing reading culture into children's regular activities; at the same time becoming a space for learning, experience, and connection for children, teachers and parents.

To make the library effective, the school has organized creative reading activities such as story time with pictures, children transforming into characters, redrawing stories...; created outdoor spaces, classroom corners to build friendly, close reading areas to help children access books naturally; assigned teachers to be in charge of the library, built bookcases by topic and age; called on parents to participate in reading with their children, creating a connection between family and school; integrated the library into specialized activities, life skills education and language development.

From there, children become more interested in reading, more confident in communication, increase their vocabulary and express their creativity and imagination. This confirms that a small library, if properly organized, will create great value for preschool children.

Recognizing the importance and significance of library activities in schools, the Department of Education and Training of Gio Linh district has strengthened propaganda work to raise awareness of all levels, schools, families, communities and the whole society about the importance of the reading movement in schools; directed schools to invest in purchasing facilities and specialized equipment for libraries and organize activities, reading festivals, storytelling based on books, drawing pictures on book topics; communicated through the Young Pioneers newsletter broadcast on Mondays, communicated through social networking platforms...

The propaganda activities have attracted the participation of organizations and individuals, especially parents and students. This has raised awareness of the meaning and benefits of reading. Every year, the Department of Education and Training organizes professional training on library work for managers, teachers and library staff of schools; organizes specialized library reading sessions to draw experience, supplement measures, and contribute to improving the quality of library reading sessions; establishes a professional library-equipment group of schools to organize professional activities, exchange and share good and effective practices in library work and management of school equipment; organizes conferences on reading and book sharing methods to evaluate, draw experience and make adjustments to suit reality.

Head of the Department of Education and Training of Gio Linh district, Nguyen Van Nghe, said that the Department of Education and Training has done a good job of advising the District People's Committee to arrange funds to invest in building new, renovating and upgrading school libraries to meet the criteria prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training and the criteria of a friendly library; promoting the mobilization of social resources from organizations and individuals...

From 2021 to present, the district has built 6 new school-friendly libraries; renovated and upgraded 15 school libraries to meet the criteria of friendly libraries, and upgraded 8 toy libraries for children in kindergartens with a budget of more than 10 billion VND.

From the project “Making friends with books”, Zhi-Shan Foundation provided technical advice and financial support for installing library equipment according to friendly library criteria for 16 schools; supported the construction of 2 friendly libraries and 8 toy libraries for children; donated 74 classroom bookcases and hundreds of books to libraries with a total project funding of nearly 2 billion VND.

The Dream Library Project sponsored equipment, tables, chairs, and bookshelves for 3 libraries of 3 primary and secondary schools worth over 300 million VND. The Room to Read Library Program of the American NGO created a friendly space for students to read and form reading habits for 5 high school libraries. The DOVE organization supported over 700 million VND to organize training and buy books for libraries.

The District Association for the Promotion of Education, Quang Tri Book Equipment Company, Education Publishing House in Da Nang City, Good Books for Primary School Students Project and many other organizations and individuals have donated thousands of copies of various books to school libraries for shared use and to students in difficult circumstances.

Thanks to the right investment, the library space is always airy, close, and friendly, contributing to attracting students to love reading, solving the difficulty of pressure in management of librarians.

To develop the reading movement for students, schools across the district closely follow the guidance of the Department of Education and Training to develop plans to organize library reading activities in accordance with regulations and effectively. School professionals and library staff have closely and effectively coordinated in organizing library reading sessions, ensuring a minimum of 3 sessions/semester. Every year, the Department of Education and Training directs schools to well organize activities in response to Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day; organize a pilot program at one school and replicate it throughout the sector.

Schools have proactively and flexibly implemented many activities with rich content and forms. Currently, 100% and over 80% of students participate in reading books at the library and borrowing books to read at home. Libraries periodically rotate information resources such as textbooks, teachers' professional books, reference books, newspapers, magazines, stories, educational pictures and other documents according to semesters and school years.

Supporting activities such as organizing book review contests, artistic book stacking, children with the world of books, book exchanges... are integrated with experiential activities to create excitement and arouse students' passion for books.

Based on the province's plan, the district's Department of Education and Training advised the district People's Committee to direct the organization of Reading Culture Ambassador competitions in high schools in the district, attracting a large number of students to participate; from 2021 to present, 159 students won district-level prizes, 38 students won provincial-level prizes and 1 student won national-level prizes.

Library activities are increasingly becoming more systematic and effective, contributing to improving the quality of education at all levels and fields of study; the rate of students completing primary school programs each year reaches 100%, graduating from secondary school is over 98%; over 50 students won prizes in the 9th grade cultural competition; the work of educating students in ethics, lifestyle, and life skills has achieved many results, there are no social evils infiltrating schools, awareness of law compliance and responsibility to the community among students is increasingly high.

Hoai An

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/huyen-gio-linh-quan-tam-dau-tu-hoan-thien-he-thong-thu-vien-truong-hoc-va-phat-trien-phong-trao-doc-sach-193174.htm