Skip to content
  • About
  • Advisory & Consulting
  • Advertising Sales
  • Indonesia
  • Subscribe
  • Log In
Primary Menu
  • Home
  • Latest
  • Topics
  • Regions
    • Africa
    • Australasia
    • Central Asia
    • East Asia
    • Global
    • Southeast Asia
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
  • News
  • Brief
  • Interview
  • Opinion
  • Figure
  • Infographic
  • Video
  • Community
  • Partner
  • Press Release
  • Youth
  • Featured
  • Soft News

Access to Quality Books to Improve Quality Education

Books have a critical role in children’s early literacy development. Therefore, supporting quality education worldwide requires increasing access to quality books for all children.
by Kresentia Madina April 21, 2023
a girl browsing through bookshelves

Photo: Suad Kamardeen on Unsplash.

Books have immense power in shaping who we are. We can see glimpses of the world, discover new things, understand other people’s thoughts, and learn so much in the pages. Therefore, having access to quality books since childhood is crucial for humans’ emotional, intellectual, and physical growth. Unfortunately, millions of children still have minimal access to quality books.

Early literacy development

Our desire to communicate begins at a very early stage of life. Babies start to make gibberish sounds as an attempt to communicate before gradually learning to form coherent sentences as they age. In this stage, parents-children interactions are crucial to stimulate children’s language development. One of the ways is through shared book-reading experiences, where parents read to their children.

Books hold a special place in children’s early literacy development. A study found that getting exposed to books provides opportunities for children to discover new words, topics, and concepts that are rarely used in everyday speech. As the language used in books often has a broader and deeper range than spoken language, it can also promote children’s social and emotional development.

Another research found that children who read daily between the age of 10-11 show better performance in school in the following years. The research also noted that it’s not only a matter of how often they read but also what kind of text they read. Access to quality books becomes necessary to truly improve children’s early literacy development.

Learning poverty

A 2022 global report shares that around 70% of 10-year-olds in low and middle-income countries need help understanding a simple written text. This learning poverty results from prolonged school closure due to COVID-19 and poor foundational literacy skills among underprivileged communities.

Children from impoverished households have limited access to quality books. Usually, this condition is also reflected within the communities where low-income communities have less access to quality books in their schools and public libraries. As a result, these children are deprived of the opportunities to learn and understand languages compared to their more financially stable peers.

Access to quality books

Supporting quality education worldwide requires increasing access to quality books. Therefore, a large-scale intervention is critical to bridge the literacy gap, especially in low-income countries. The World Bank has stated its commitment to redouble the efforts to provide more quality books to readers in several ways:

  • Promoting the development of local educational publishing industries.
  • Strengthening the procurement of books through greater accountability and harnessing new technologies and partnerships.
  • Supporting governments in developing clear criteria for approval and procurement of reading content so that materials are affordable, appropriate, durable, contextually relevant, and open-source.
  • Working with other partners through existing organizations to develop high-quality, open-source, global public goods such as leveled readers in multiple languages and for different cultural contexts.

Still, achieving quality education for all remains our collective work. Therefore, organizations, governments, researchers, communities and other stakeholders are invited to collaborate in increasing access to quality books for all children.

Editor: Nazalea Kusuma


Subscribe to Green Network Asia
Strengthen your personal and professional development with cross-sectoral insights on sustainability-related issues and sustainable development across the Asia Pacific and beyond.
Select Your Subscription Plan
Kresentia Madina
Kresentia Madina
Reporter at Green Network Asia | Website |  + postsBio

Madina is the Assistant Manager for Digital Publications at Green Network Asia. She graduated from Universitas Indonesia with a bachelor's degree in English Literature. She has three years of professional experience working on GNA international digital publications, programs, and partnerships particularly on social and cultural issues.

  • Kresentia Madina
    https://greennetwork.asia/author/kresentiamadina/
    Promoting Healthy Aging with Age-Friendly Cities
  • Kresentia Madina
    https://greennetwork.asia/author/kresentiamadina/
    Six Projects Aim to Tackle Food Insecurity in the UK
  • Kresentia Madina
    https://greennetwork.asia/author/kresentiamadina/
    ASEAN and the UK Launched Partnership for Health Security
  • Kresentia Madina
    https://greennetwork.asia/author/kresentiamadina/
    GRI’s Updated Sustainability Standards on Climate Change and Energy

Continue Reading

Previous: What Makes a Healthy Planet?
Next: Strengthening Legal Protection for Indigenous Peoples in Indonesia

Related Stories

coral reefs with a school of small fish around it Launching a High-Level Commitment to Protect Climate-Resilient Coral Reefs
  • Exclusive
  • Featured
  • Soft News

Launching a High-Level Commitment to Protect Climate-Resilient Coral Reefs

by Seftyana Khairunisa and Nazalea Kusuma July 17, 2025
a group of children with studying items on a boat Floating Schools, a Community-based Initiative amid Bangladesh’s Climate Hazards
  • Featured
  • Soft News

Floating Schools, a Community-based Initiative amid Bangladesh’s Climate Hazards

by Attiatul Noor July 16, 2025
infografik age friendly cities Promoting Healthy Aging with Age-Friendly Cities
  • Featured
  • Infographic

Promoting Healthy Aging with Age-Friendly Cities

by Irhan Prabasukma and Kresentia Madina July 15, 2025
a pink plate with fork and knife Six Projects Aim to Tackle Food Insecurity in the UK
  • Exclusive
  • Featured
  • Soft News

Six Projects Aim to Tackle Food Insecurity in the UK

by Kresentia Madina July 15, 2025
kids with breathing tools Nafas Indonesia and DBS Foundation Launch White Paper on Air Pollution and Pneumonia in Jakarta Toddlers
  • Featured
  • Press Release

Nafas Indonesia and DBS Foundation Launch White Paper on Air Pollution and Pneumonia in Jakarta Toddlers

by Nafas Indonesia July 14, 2025
An elderly walk in the crowd. Promoting Healthy Aging with Age-Friendly Cities
  • Featured
  • Soft News

Promoting Healthy Aging with Age-Friendly Cities

by Sukma Prasanthi July 14, 2025

About Us

  • GNA CEO’s Letter
  • GNA In-House Team
  • GNA Author Network
  • GNA Press Release Guidelines
  • GNA Op-ed Article Guidelines
  • GNA Community Content Guidelines
  • GNA Internship
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
© 2021-2025 Green Network Asia