Business encourages rural school kids to read with donations, volunteers
With digital devices commanding our attention these days, how many of us still read books? The habit of reading starts young, and a financial holdings company has dedicated itself to the cause for 20 years. Employees volunteer to read with kids in new libraries built by the company’s charity foundation. Let’s take a look at some of the results in our special report.
At the presidential inauguration in 2016, the choir of Pingtung County Timur Elementary School stole the show by layering Traditional Paiwan tunes with the national anthem in counterpoint.
The home of these voices is Timur, also known as Sandimen Township, 360km from the capital. The local, 120-year-old Timur Elementary School is the first primary school bearing the Traditional Place name. The majority of students are Paiwan, followed by Rukai.
- What is your school called?
- Timur Elementary School
- What does “Timur” mean?
- Timur is a school.
- I don’t know.
Tjanubak, Kao Chih-cheng
Principal, Timur Elementary School
Timur Elementary School was formerly known as Sandi Elementary School. Timur is the name of this community. The name was changed because we Indigenous Peoples name our living spaces as a connection to collective memory and lifetime memory.
This is Djemuljat, a sacred ritual of Maljeveq, also known as the Five-Year Festival. Clan representatives gather around in a circle, each holding a 10m-long bamboo pole to try to stab vine balls tossed into the air by the priest. Every ball represents a different blessing. The ritual is used to introduce levers to kids in science class.
Where is the fulcrum in Djemuljat? The shoulders. He’s holding a bamboo pole at least 10m long. That makes the spirit ball the resistance.
Instead of conventional textbooks compiled by the Han people, Timur Elementary School uses the country’s first Paiwan-centric class materials. For example, the traditional slate house illustrates thermal conductivity of different materials, while ceramic beads and silver buttons on traditional clothing are featured in math.
Lai Wei-en
Timur Elementary School
Paiwan culture informs texts for various subjects, including Mandarin, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. This not only helps kids acquire knowledge in these subjects, but also makes them understand that there’s academic know-how in our elders’ wisdom and heritage.
Chen Hsin-yu
Timur Elementary School
We’re less than ten minutes away from the plains, so most of the kids’ parents are quite comfortable financially and have good jobs, compared with other more remote villages. Parents here are also quite supportive of getting their kids to read.
On this bookish campus, today, every member has come out to welcome guests from afar, to inaugurate a new library.
- Can you tell me what your favorite thing is here?
- This is my favorite.
- This thing on the ceiling is our glass beads.
- Is the new library very different from the old one?
- Very different.
In the old library, the whole space at the back is shelves. There are shelves here, and there at the back, and also there.
Even though many kids here love reading, the old library wasn’t particularly attractive to young kids with its basic interior.
Chen Hsin-yu
Timur Elementary School
Our former library had a more somber color scheme. It’s reflective of the colors of the Paiwan and Rukai peoples, mainly browns, blacks and other deeper shades. I find that the yellow goes really well with muted colors. It feels really bright and attractive to kids. The space is also well-designed, with various reading corners. There’s a seating area, reading steps and other different reading spaces.
The new library was funded by a domestic financial holdings company. A percentage of credit card payment goes to the company’s charity and volunteer foundation, which is then used for improving the infrastructure of underserved schools. From 2007 to April, 2026, as many as 200 public schools have benefitted from this initiative.
Joseph N. C. Huang
Company volunteer foundation CEO
We hope that the Gold Seed initiative will plant a seed for the love of reading in the hearts of every school kid, and that the seed will slowly grow into a tall tree. We hope that they’ll develop a conviction to become somebody that can contribute to our society. We hope that when these kids grow up, they’ll be inspired to contribute to the betterment of the next generation.
The company’s employees also volunteer to read with these kids at their schools.
Yeh Yung-shih
Volunteer
I’d thought that the kids would be pretty shy, but all of them are so enthusiastic and eager to share their thoughts.
Lai Chen-ting
Volunteer
I used to know nothing about their culture, but I began to learn through illustrated books, about how slate houses are built and the history behind them. It’s not just about keeping kids company. I’m also learning.
Turning to Zhongpu Township in Chiayi, an agricultural town. Chen Yen-min is an alumna of Shekou Elemetary School. She remembers that in 2009, when she was in the higher grades, the library suddenly became pretty upscale.
Chen Yen-min
Shekou Elemetary School
After all, this is a rural township. It’s rare to have a library that’s so beautiful and air-conditioned, with such a delightful and whimsical interior, and such lovely colors. At the time when we saw the library, our first impression was that it was really so bougie.
But it’s not enough to have a pretty space. Kids have to become interested in reading, so that the library can truly come alive. After getting her credentials, Chen returned to her alma mater to become a substitute teacher. She’s also now encouraging kids to fall in love with reading.
Chen Yen-min
Shekou Elemetary School
I’ve always felt that I am indebted to my home room teacher in the higher grades. She inspired me to build a reading habit. Because of her, I started reading for pleasure, books and newspaper. She made me feel that texts really aren’t so intimidating. When I became a teacher myself, every week I dedicate one period to bring students to the library to read. In this period, they’re allowed to read alone, with classmates, or even with me. Anything as long as we’re reading.
Over the past two decades, school kids are becoming inspired to love reading. However, it seems that the world is changing too quickly now. Whether in cities or the countryside, people’s attention is being hogged by digital devices and fragmented online information. How does that affect kids’ interest in physical books?
Timur Elementary School had the sponsor install an interactive whiteboard in the new library. The teachers believe that instead of resisting digital devices, students should instead be guided to learn effectively through both digital and analog means.
Lai Wei-en
Timur Elementary School
Before, we did not have a learning device like this. But the interactive whiteboard boosts the government’s “a tablet for every student” effort. We also hope that the kids can learn how to effectively use digital tools to improve their learning outcomes.
Chen Hsin-yu
Timur Elementary School
The issue with digital devices is really widespread among educators, parents, and even the society at large. We’re all dealing with the same issue. Even we ourselves use digital devices. How we teach students to discern real from false information in reading classes is more important. We’re not telling kids that digital devices are all bad.
Joseph Huang, who is usually busy as chairperson of his company, still makes time to attend the inauguration of every new library. For him, each new library is a new seed of hope.
Joseph N. C. Huang
Company volunteer foundation CEO
This is a thank-you card I got from a kid at Datong Elementary School in Puzi, Chiayi, at the inauguration of the library. When he handed me the card, he whispered to me, “Chairman Huang, I’m really so grateful that your company has given us such a beautiful library. We love it so much. We will definitely read lots and lots in the library. We also hope that when we grow up, we’ll become better and more valuable people.” It’s really, really touching when a kid says these things to you. You realize that even little kids feel grateful, and second, they’re really motivated. The kids hope that they will make good use of the library and learn many things.
Tjanubak, Kao Chih-cheng
Principal, Timur Elementary School
I think these experiences allow kids to understand that it’s not just holding out your hands for a present. More importantly, maybe one day, they’ll start to think about how they can serve others with their profession, education and life experiences, even if just a little. They’ll want to pay it forward by serving others in various ways. That’s what we want to instill in kids the most.
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2026-08-17
