Inspiring reading culture - Lang Son Newspaper and Radio and Television Station

- In the context of digital entertainment such as social networks, video games, and online videos increasingly dominating children's time and habits, traditional reading is gradually fading away. Faced with this reality, the provincial education sector has proactively coordinated and implemented many practical solutions, from renovating school libraries to organizing reading activities to arouse a love of books and form reading habits among school-age children.

Lang Son children enjoy reading summer books at the Provincial Library

According to the report of the Departmentof Education and Training, in the 2024-2025 school year, the whole province has more than 400 schools from primary to high school, of which 100% of schools have libraries. Notably, many schools have actively renovated and upgraded from school libraries to green libraries, to attract students to read books. Compared to the 2022-2023 school year, the number of renovated and upgraded libraries increased by 18%, focusing on the following criteria: expanding the area, adding books, integrating book management software and applying QR codes for lookup. Many schools such as Le Quy Don Primary and Secondary School (Lang Son City) or Hop Thanh Primary School (Cao Loc) have applied VietBiblio software and used barcode scanners to automatically lend books, helping students access books more easily and modernly.

Not stopping at numbers, creative library models have contributed to breathing new life into school spaces. Notably, the "Dream Library" project was implemented in disadvantaged schools in Van Quan district from the 2023-2024 school year. Each library has invested in over 1,000 books, friendly tables and chairs, and reading areas classified by age and color. Survey results from the Van Quan Department of Education and Training in 2024-2025 showed that more than 80% of primary school students in schools with "Dream Libraries" read books at least twice a week, nearly double the previous number. Those colorful spaces are not only places to store books, but have truly become "incubators" of knowledge, nurturing a passion for reading from childhood.

Along with the library innovation of the education sector, the provincial cultural sector has also actively responded to the model of "multimedia mobile library car" operated by Lang Son Provincial Library (since 2018), which has also contributed to spreading the reading culture to schools in remote areas. From the beginning of 2024 to now, there have been nearly 100 trips to students in Van Lang, Loc Binh, Trang Dinh districts..., an increase of nearly 35% compared to 2023. On each trip are thousands of books, movie equipment, free internet and open reading corners, organized as a colorful and experiential "reading festival". In May 2025 alone, the library car served over 2,500 students in the province. Ms. Dang Thuy Lan, Director of the Provincial Library shared: “We hope to not only bring books to children in remote areas, but also bring the joy of reading and the excitement of discovery . Each library trip is a journey to sow the seeds of knowledge, connect traditional reading culture and contribute to narrowing the gap in cultural enjoyment between regions.”

In addition, emulation activities and organizing playgrounds on reading culture were implemented synchronously, notably the "Reading Culture Ambassador" contest (organized by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in coordination with the Department of Education and Training). In the 2024-2025 school year, the whole province had 397 schools participating in the contest with more than 30,464 entries, an increase of 25 schools and more than 4,200 entries compared to the previous school year. Not only stopping at quantity, the quality of this year's entries was also highly appreciated with many creative ideas such as making book introduction videos, establishing small reading clubs in the classroom, writing weekly reading diaries... Notably, after the provincial contest, 2 students from Lang Son excellently won the Second and Third prizes in the national final round, the most outstanding results of the province in the past 4 years.

Student Luong Anh Nguyet, class 12A5, Loc Binh High School, excellently won second prize in the national final round of the 2024 Reading Culture Ambassador Contest, shared: Participating in the contest, I chose the theme "Learning from Uncle Ho for life" to express my respect for traditional moral values ​​and affirm the sustainable role of reading culture in studying and following Uncle Ho. I submitted a presentation combined with illustrations, aiming to spread the message: each book is not only a treasure trove of knowledge but also a silent teacher, helping the young generation like us to form our personality, practice our ideals and preserve the traditional values ​​of the nation.

The results achieved are not only telling numbers, but more importantly, they are evidence of a clear change in the awareness and actions of the provincial education sector and all levels and sectors in the province towards preserving and promoting traditional reading culture. Ms. Phan My Hanh, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training emphasized: “Sowing the seeds of traditional reading culture is not a temporary activity, but a task that needs to be maintained persistently, associated with the goal of building a learning society, nurturing personality and arousing the aspirations of the young generation to rise up.”

From outdoor libraries, “Dream Libraries” in highland schools, book carts that weave through villages to creative reading culture ambassador contests..., the seeds of reading culture are sprouting in schools in Lang Son. In the era of technology explosion, when paper books seem to be far behind, in every classroom and schoolyard, each page of a book still silently gives wings to students’ dreams and knowledge. That is convincing evidence that traditional reading culture, if invested in the right direction, nurtured with love for the profession and the cooperation of the whole society, will never be lost.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/geo-hat-van-hoa-doc-trong-thieu-nhi-5047796.html