Life-long Learning Based On Good Reading Habits

On that day, Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng told the children the story of "How Yu Gong Moved Two Mountains Away" and "The Myth of Kuafu Chasing the Sun," hoping that they strengthen their will by listening to those stories. He did this through an interactive video.

"The Storyteller Mothers are doing a great job," said Tu. "They assisted the kids in the rural areas and the small islands in Taiwan to develop their reading habits and trained the volunteers for schools in 2005."

The groups of mothers developed the "mobile reading workshops" and held a "10,000-person story telling activity" in 2006, thereby encouraging people to develop their reading habits.

Many private groups donated books to the selected schools after the Reading Promotion Activity for 300 Elementary Schools. Some Internet bookstores joined the book-raising project of "Buy One and Donate One".

To show appreciation for the efforts of the volunteer groups, the Ministry of Education organizes children's literary carnivals every year.

"Solid education means having the ability of independent thinking and solving problems. Therefore, educational personnel should help children to develop the basic ability of logic, language, athleticism and arts, and pay attention to health and reading," said Tu.

"Especially for the schools in rural areas, more resources should be invested to sow the seeds of reading among our children; only then can we expect them to be learned citizens for the future."