A campaign to encourage reading among civil servants has received an enthusiastic response, an Examination Yuan official said, rebutting a local media report that the campaign has been met with only a cool response from civil servants.
According to a story run by the Chinese-language United Evening News on Saturday, the National Academy of Civil Service (NACS), a unit of the Examination Yuan’s Civil Service Protection and Training Commission, has set up a special committee to select a book each month for civil servants to read.
The NACS has also held many workshops and writing contests to encourage civil servants at various levels to read books recommended by the committee, and write down their views and thoughts on them.
For instance, it said, the academy has already held 35 award presentation ceremonies this year to encourage writing. The top award carries a cash prize of NT$60,000.
However, the report suggested the efforts have drawn a cool response from civil servants, with only 2,675 entries having been entered in the 35 contests held this year. This indicates that only 0.7 percent of the nation’s 340,000 civil servants have responded to the campaign, while fewer than 122 public servants in each city or county have entered the writing contests.
It added that the Facebook fan page of the NACS’s special reading program has so far collected 2,000-plus “likes,” meaning that only 0.58 percent of civil servants like or support the campaign.
Samson Lee (李嵩賢), vice chairman of the Civil Service Protection and Training Commission, said the report was wrong.
“How could the academy hold 35 award presentations in a single year?” Lee asked, adding that there is only one award presentation each year.
The award presentation for this year’s contest will be held on Jan. 24, he said, adding that civil servants have contributed more than 20,000 entries.
“After an initial screening, more than 2,000 were selected for the final screening,” Lee said, refuting the media report that only 0.7 percent of civil servants have contributed articles to the contest.
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