VIDEO // Ministry of Education expands reading promotion programs in kindergartens, schools

The Ministry of Education and Research is intensifying efforts to promote reading among children and young people by expanding educational programs, organizing reading festivals and supporting reading clubs in educational institutions. Minister of Education and Research Dan Perciun told a TV show last night that this year the ministry will continue to expand initiatives aimed at stimulating interest in books.

"We have brought more book titles to all kindergartens, we will organize reading festivals, and we are striving to extend the network in several districts near Chișinău, as we did last year. We will train educators to make the most of this literature," the minister said.

At the school level, the Ministry of Education is collaborating with the Romanian Cultural Institute to organize poetry competitions, creative writing workshops, and to support reading clubs in as many schools as possible.

"I hope we will have poetry competitions this year, organize more creative writing workshops, and co-finance reading clubs in schools," Dan Perciun added.

At the same time, the ministry is providing logistical, financial, and editorial support to Romanian language teachers who coordinate such initiatives.

"We have talked to several teachers who run reading clubs, and we are providing support for them, with books as well as logistical and financial assistance, in order to expand these good practices that already exist in some educational institutions," the minister also said.

The current initiatives build on the national campaign "Read Me a Hundred Stories", launched in April 2025 by the Ministry of Education and Research, in partnership with UNICEF, the OvidiuRo Association and Ion Creangă National Library for Children. The campaign aims to promote reading among preschool children, both in kindergartens and at home, by turning reading into a daily, attractive, and accessible activity. The program focuses on the development of language, cognitive and emotional skills, as well as on strengthening the relationship between children, educators, and parents through books.

Under the initiative, books were distributed to approximately 1,200 kindergartens in the Republic of Moldova, and later the program was expanded with over 56,000 new volumes, which complement the existing reading collection and include dozens of modern titles for children. At the same time, kindergartens are encouraged to create "reading islands"—special spaces for reading and listening to stories, arranged both indoors and outdoors.