We open our phones to read one message and do not notice half an hour slipping by. Yet when it comes to books, we say, “I can’t find the time.” Singapore has offered a simple solution to this contradiction: read for at least 15 minutes every day.
In September 2026, the country’s National Library Board launched the ReadSG program. Participants log their reading time on a government platform and earn virtual coins for each daily session. Fifty 15-minute reading sessions earn a reward worth one Singapore dollar. The amount is very small. The main idea of the program is not income but encouraging people to pick up a book and making this a habit. The initiative is still at the pilot stage, so it is too early to draw final conclusions about its impact on reading.
In Uzbekistan, this experience could be linked with the existing Mutolaa project. The platform, created by the Youth Affairs Agency and Xalq Bank, allows users to read e-books and listen to audiobooks. The app also has a Marra section that shows daily results and can track reading and listening time. On this basis, a pilot encouraging 15-minute reading could be launched.
For example, the Mutolaa team and libraries could jointly run a three-month program in one city and one district. Participants would choose their own books and track their daily progress in the Marra section. If minutes spent reading books and listening to audiobooks are counted separately during the pilot, it will be easier to assess the results of both. So that people who do not use smartphones can take part with printed books, libraries would introduce a simple registration procedure.
With sponsors’ support, regular participants could receive books, bookstore discounts, or a one-month Mutolaa Premium subscription. This is not an existing reward scheme but a proposal for the pilot program. If the reward encourages readers to open a book again and keep reading, it will have served its purpose.
The project’s impact will show not in minutes read but in whether reading becomes a habit. If participants are still reading and returning to the library several months later, the small incentive will have done its job. This is a practical step toward Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, Quality Education.
Alisher Azizov
Sustainable Development Center — Chief Specialist