TAIPEI （Taiwan News）— Taipei Municipal Dong-Hu Junior High School received more than 1,000 English books from a group of volunteers who have been collecting donated books to send to Taiwan for almost a decade, per UDN on Wednesday (Sep 8).
Each student at the school received an English book from the U.S.-based non-profit platform Books For Taiwan at the start of the new term. The platform has been collecting and sending books from the U.S. to Taiwan schools, libraries, culinary schools, and jails.
More than 1,000 books, including novels and picture books, were sterilized before being handed over to their new owners. “We hope this reading matter can help Taiwanese students not to be afraid of English,” school staff were quoted as saying.
Dong-Hu Junior High School Principal Ko Shu-hui（柯淑惠) said the donated books open a new page on bilingual education for both students and teachers.
To raise English proficiency among the public and improve national competitiveness, the Taiwan government in 2018 drew up a plan to become a bilingual nation by 2030. The intention is to enforce bilingual education to better equip the next generation, as well as strengthen the English abilities of the whole population.
Books For Taiwan was founded in 2012 by Amy Lin, who is Taiwanese but lives in the U.S.
