For nearly a decade, Wongduan Srimarat has taught children from hill tribe communities in the highlands of Chiang Mai, a province in northern Thailand.

Books rarely reach these homes, she said.

“In all my years teaching on the mountain, I’ve never seen parents buy books or order them for their children,” Wongduan, 32, told BenarNews. “But snacks and toys, they buy those all the time.”

Although reading is a building block for learning, many children in rural Thailand lack access to books. This is happening amid a big gap in literacy rates between the Thai countryside and cities. Advocates and educators are urging the central government to create policies that foster a culture of reading nationwide.

According to Wongduan, economic constraints can pinch a family’s ability to access books, but she believes it’s not the only factor. 

Parents often lack a reading culture and do not consider books a priority, the school teacher said. Even efforts by her school to provide its students with picture books and children’s literature have been met with limited enthusiasm from parents.

“Life on the mountain doesn’t support reading. Parents work hard in the fields and return home late, often to areas without electricity,” Wongduan said.

“Reading at home is nearly impossible.” 

A huge literacy problem exists in rural Thailand, the World Bank said in a report released in February.

The study looked at the foundational skills among youths and adults in Thailand, including “foundational literacy.” That refers to the ability to “barely read and understand short texts to solve a simple problem such as following medical instructions,” according to the report.

The study revealed that 70.3% of youths and adults in rural areas showed below-threshold levels of foundational literacy, compared with 58% of those living in urban areas.

The disparity between urban and rural areas in access to books is also stark. 

More than six out of 10 children (63.5%) in the nation’s capital Bangkok have at least three books at home, according to a study by the National Statistical Office of Thailand in 2022. 

Other regions of the country – where many rural communities exist – have far lower rates: 33.9% in the northeast, 35.9% in the south, and 38% in the north. 

Last year, about 2.8 million Thai children lived in extremely poor households, mostly concentrated in rural areas, according to the latest data from the Equitable Education Fund (EEF), a government agency.

These households usually earn about 1,039 baht (U.S. $30.48) per month or only 34 baht ($1) a day – far too little to afford books.

And according to a survey done by UNICEF in 2019, only 14% of low-income Thai families owned three or more books.

In northeastern Khon Kaen province, a bookstore owner said that during his four years of owning the shop, he hardly saw parents from his community buy books for their children.

“Parents buying books for kids is rare, and it usually happens only when there’s a trend sweeping the book world,” Weerawatt Somnuk told BenarNews.

For many of these families, books are merely a secondary expense, after food, clothing, and school fees, he said.  

“When parents aren’t readers themselves, they don’t know what books to recommend beyond textbooks or classics like Aesop’s fables. In today’s digital era, where information is easily accessible online, the role of books especially for children has diminished,” Weerawatt said.

It also doesn’t help that bookstores in the country are on the decline.

In 2022, the country had 2,483 bookstores, according to the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand (PUBAT). Last year, the number plummeted to 800. 

Most of these bookshops are concentrated in Bangkok and major cities, leaving rural areas underserved. 

In Doi Saket, a district of Chiang Mai, even finding a newsstand can be a challenge.

“In small districts outside Bangkok, bookstores are extremely rare. Even newspaper stands, which used to sell print media that was widely read by Thai people, are now gradually disappearing,” Weerawatt, the bookshop keeper in Khon Kaen, said.

Instead of buying books, Keerati Boonpradit, who works in a shop in Doi Saket, bought her daughter a tablet, which she thought was a more practical investment.

“We don’t have any bookstores here,” Keerati said.

“A book costs hundreds of baht, and once it’s read, you have to buy another. But with a tablet, children can watch countless videos in Thai and English. It’s more cost-effective and engaging for kids,” she told BenarNews. 

Books also remain expensive for ordinary Thai families.

Most books are priced at around 200 baht ($5.9). Buying one can be a financial burden for families earning minimum wages of 300 to 400 baht ($8.90 to 11.70) a day.

“Children’s books are particularly costly due to special elements like story copyrights, illustrations, and durable materials to withstand rough handling,” said Pincha Lekpetch, owner of Reangrun Publishing, which specializes in children’s books.

Thailand’s education policy 

In 2023, then-Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin pledged to promote reading as part of his administration’s education policy. 

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the current prime minister, described books as “inspirational tools for various fields of work,” but progress to encourage more people to read books is lacking, some literacy advocates said.

 Weerawatt, the bookstore owner, believes the government must prioritize access to books to foster a reading culture.

“If the government truly values reading, they need to invest in public and school libraries, providing up-to-date, useful books and creating environments that encourage people to engage with them,” he said.

Pincha, the publisher, emphasized the need to support the local book publishing industry. She pointed to countries such as Japan or South Korea, where robust reading initiatives are paired with events that bring books directly to communities.

“Thailand needs more than book fairs in Bangkok. Books should travel to schools or malls, offering free reading activities. Without this outreach, books remain inaccessible,” she said.

For parents like Keerati, schools should take the lead in providing extracurricular reading materials. She believes free books should be part of Thailand’s free education policy so as to reduce financial burdens on low-income families.

“If the government can give out cash, why not free books for kids? It would make a huge difference.”

Original published: Benarnews Thailand