About The Reading Bus Club in Malaysia

The Reading Bus Club Kuala Lumpur, a registered non-governmental organisation in Malaysia, aims to reach out to underprivileged children to enhance their English language competency through activities such as English Language seminars, camps and reading competitions. The Reading Bus Club is the brainchild of husband-and-wife team, Mr Cheli Nadarajah, 54 and Kong Lai Mei, 53, English teachers themselves. They have been running the non-profit mobile library in parts of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Cambodia since 2009.

While the vehicle they operate from is actually a van, instead of a bus, Mr Cheli and Ms Kong fill it with toolboxes, planks and boxes of books and hit the road every weekend headed for schools on Kuala Lumpur’s outskirts or villages outside the city.

There, the couple and several volunteers stack expandable shelves with books to create a mobile library that can accommodate as many as 400 books for children to borrow, and set up mini libraries - a colourful shelf filled with new English story books for children ages five to 12 - at the back of classrooms. Each mini library - funded by sponsors that are sometimes volunteers as well - costs around RM200, while books are donated by publisher friends passionate about their cause.

In the heart of the city, Ms Quek Sue Yian, a director of conglomerate Hong Leong's charity foundation and daughter of Malaysian tycoon Quek Leng Chan, is doing her part too. She has mobilised children’s authors to publish books for underprivileged youngsters and plans to raise hundreds of thousands of ringgit to be channelled to setting up community libraries across the country.

The bubbly 39-year-old started her personal project just a year and half ago and has already published 10 children books - mostly by Malaysian authors writing in English - and helped opened three community libraries at shelters around the city and Rompin, Pahang. Her goal is to set up 100 community libraries in the country eventually.

Ms Quek also has a 12-hour reading program called The Wisdom Club coming up. Volunteers will teach children about lessons on universal values from various books.

These Malaysians’ mission is to encourage school children to read in English as the country’s educational system grapples with falling standards. They are also trying to buck the trend of dying reading habits among children, as their interest in books has given way to computer games and other online diversions.

The team of The Reading Bus Club

Official Facebook Page : The Reading Bus Club