FINCO’s ‘Book Buddies’ Sees 36.5% Increase in Reading Enjoyment While Tackling Literacy and Critical Thinking Gaps Among Malaysian Students

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 (Bernama) -- The Financial Industry Collective Outreach (FINCO) today announced the successful pilot of Book Buddies, a nationwide book club initiative designed to foster a stronger reading culture and enhance critical thinking skills among Year 5 and 6 students in Malaysia. Results from the pilot demonstrated significant positive impact, with student reading enjoyment increasing from 68.7% before the pilot to 93.8% afterwards.

Additionally, students reporting confidence in sharing story opinions rose from 45.6% to 78.2%, with the proportion feeling very confident rising from 14.0% to 35.8%. The vast majority of participants (91.9%) expressed strong interest in reading more books and joining future Book Buddies discussions.