Opening Address by Minister Josephine Teo at kidsREAD 20th Anniversary

31 AUG 2024

Opening Address by Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister of Digital Development and Information, at kidsREAD 20th Anniversary on 31 August 2024

President Tharman Shanmugaratnam,

Ms Jane Ittogi,

Chairman, NLB Mr Lee Seow Hiang,

Chief Executive Officer, NLB Mr Ng Cher Pong,

Colleagues, Friends,

Parents and Children

Good afternoon and thank you all for being here.
I wasn’t supposed to be giving you this speech.
But a certain Head of State, a very well-respected and well-loved Head of State has delegated this task to me, so please bear with me.
One of my earliest memories is in fact about how I had lost a book. I had won a prize at a storytelling competition. I was so excited unwrapping this prize, that when I saw it, I flung it into the air, and it fell into a crack behind a wardrobe. Because the wardrobe was too heavy, we could not move it. That book stayed behind the wardrobe for a few years, until we eventually moved house, and I was able to retrieve it. I remember the title of that book. It was the “Magic Porridge Pot”.

I think it was because of the loss of that book, that motivated me to volunteer to be the class librarian at Primary 3. That was the first job I ever had in my life. It was the best job ever, because every time when the books were delivered to the school, the class librarian had first dibs, and that was me.

Post-independence, many children like me were fortunate to have this opportunity of early exposure to books. And this helped us to learn so much more about the world than we would otherwise would have been able to, and it brought about lifelong benefits.

But not all children are as fortunate. That is the reason why 20 years ago, a team in NLB decided that they needed to find a way to give every child a chance to learn about books, and to grow a love for books. In its first year, as you saw in the video, it was very modest. They managed to reach around over 600 kids. But over two decades, so many more have benefitted from kidsREAD; nearly 80,000 children benefitted. Beyond the numbers, there are really numerous stories of how the children have been learning to read, learning to learn, learning to dream. In the process, we have helped the children to develop and grow a love of reading, very likely a love of life.

In fact, a longitudinal study was published last year in the journal of Psychological Medicine that reported on a discovery of a very important correlation. It turns out that reading for pleasure for at least 12 hours a week, is associated with positive change in the brain structure of children. This biological change, in turn, produces measurable differences in cognitive performance and mental health well into the teenage years of the individuals, as compared to those who did not develop this reading habit.

When we see a finding like this, it must make all of us sit up. Whether as parents who all love our children, or as citizens who care about the well-being of our fellow citizens, it’s not a complicated policy decision that requires great costs or tradeoffs to promote a simple act of reading. Yet, it takes persistent hard work to get it done.

As for kidsREAD, back then, we did not need such evidence to spur us into doing what is right. In fact, the NLB team that got it started were just driven by the conviction that reading matters. Everyone should have a chance to be a reader.

Some may ask, “You have done this programme for 20 years, what have you got to show for it?” There is a useful proxy that might give us the answer that you are looking for. And it is something that President would be familiar with: PIRLS - Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. The most recent study found that our Primary 4 children perform top of the class globally. But that’s not the best part. The best part is that even at our lowest end, our readers are amongst the best-scorers across all education systems. In other words, our so-called weaker readers in Singapore, are in fact very strong readers in the world. And even through Covid, our readers did not fall back on their reading abilities.
I’m pretty certain that kidsREAD, along with many other programmes of this nature, have made a positive contribution.
And we have many people to thank for their contributions - the parents who send their children, the community partners that provide the 200 or so premises for the programme, the staff who have put their heart and soul to keep the programme going over the years.
Most of all, I’d like to thank the volunteers without whom kidsREAD cannot operate.
One such volunteer who is here with us today is Karen Took from Nee Soon East. Karen has been with the programme right from the start, from 20 years ago. Like many other volunteers, Karen has her own work and family. Yet, she has consistently found time and commitment to provide the children enrolled in kidsREAD with additional support, to cultivate a love for reading.
Over the years, we have been so fortunate to have had more than 29,000 volunteers in kidsREAD. If you do the math, it’s quite clear what a labour of love this has been – nearly four volunteers needed for every 10 children in the programme. That is a labour of love worth celebrating.
As you heard in the video, it is not all that we are doing. The programme is being expanded further.
Through all these years of operating kidsREAD, we have observed that despite best efforts, the family circumstances of some have made it difficult for the parents to bring the children to the premises where the programme is being conducted.
As such, we’re happy to introduce kidsREAD@Home which will help children in such circumstances, to also participate in this programme – to grow a love for books, to grow a love for reading.
Keep in mind that this means that the job of our volunteers has become even more demanding, and I salute them in advance. Thank you so much, for being willing to help us in this outreach. Because we believe that together, we can make a meaningful difference to the children and their families, which is why we must persist despite what we know to be of tremendous challenge.

It’s also very important in keeping with the spirit of Forward SG, where as a society, we continuously look out for each other, support each other in the things that matter most, in the things that could make the biggest difference in our lives.
Once again, thank you to all our partners and volunteers.
And also, our deepest appreciation to President and Ms Ittogi for making time to be with us this afternoon.