Facilitating Greater Access to Reading Resources for Children and Adolescents from Lower-income Families
Ministry of EducationSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns a query by Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song regarding school support for lower-income students to access reading resources, including National Library Board (NLB) digital tools. Minister Chan Chun Sing stated that school libraries link to NLB’s catalogue and highlighted programs like kidsREAD that provide books and volunteer readers for younger children. He noted that the Ministry of Education provides digital news subscriptions to secondary and pre-university students through partnerships with SPH Media Trust and Ngee Ann Kongsi. Teachers guide students in selecting materials and using e-resources, while schools are provided with information to help students navigate the NLB Mobile and Libby apps. Minister Chan Chun Sing added that schools will be encouraged to share these resources to facilitate broader access to digital reading materials.
Transcript
20 Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Education (a) how do schools support children and adolescents, especially those from lower-income families, to facilitate greater access to reading resources, including free online reading resources provided by the National Library; and (b) whether students can be taught in school how to use National Library apps like NLB Mobile and Libby to access these free reading resources.
Mr Chan Chun Sing: Schools provide a wide range of print and digital reading materials to cater to the different age groups and varied interests of students. The school library system is linked to the National Library Board's (NLB) catalogue, pointing students to curated e-books from NLB.
Schools also work with NLB on reading programmes, such as kidsREAD, which provides younger students from lower-income families with books and taps on volunteers to read to them. For older students, the Ministry of Education (MOE) supports the habit of reading the news to cultivate their interest in current affairs. At the secondary level, MOE partners Ngee Ann Kongsi and SPH Media Trust to provide all students with access to Mother Tongue Language digital news resources. At the pre-university level, students have been given accounts to read The Straits Times online.
Teachers guide students on how to select reading materials and how to access e-resources. Schools are also provided with the information and links on how to access NLB's reading apps. MOE will encourage schools to share these materials with their students to help them utilise the NLB Mobile and Libby reading apps to access more reading resources.