Under the theme ‘Read for a better life’, children, parents, teachers, other community members, Government representatives and local officials will jointly read real short stories focusing on the important of education, how reading and writing have changed lives of people and how illiterate adults miss out of the chance that an education gives them in life.  

“The campaign this year aims to raise awareness about the vital roles of education, promoting learning opportunities for youth and adults and calling authorities of all levels and all organizations in Viet Nam, local and national, to commit to adult literacy as well as life-long learning for its citizens”, said Mr. Nguyen Vinh Hien, Vice-Minister of Education and Training (MOET)

At the national event, results from the writing competition titled ‘Read for a Better life’ will be announced. Launched in early March, the competition drew great interest from people from all walks of life, hence the number of 60,000 entries from 62 out of 64 provinces in the country. There is a wide range of contestant ages with some children as young as students of Grade 1 and the oldest aged 84 years old. The entries included moving real life stories of people who overcome the illiteracy, people who are devoted to bring literacy to communities, or those who could only dream about being able to read and write. Besides the main prizes, interesting entries will be selected to print the Big Read for Viet Nam and/or posted on the competition’s blog.   

The Big Read at local level will take place in most provinces and cities throughout Vietnam during the week from April 20-26.  

This year’s The Big Read in Viet Nam is co-organised by MOET, in cooperation with the Global Campaign for Education coalition of international organisations in Viet Nam, including ActionAid, Aide et Action, ChildFund, Church World Service, Global Advance Propramme, Oxfam Great Britain, UNESCO, UNICEF, Vietnam – Belgium Education Project, World Vision and the local NGO UCNEV.