S'pore paying S'poreans to read for at least 15 minutes a day - Mothership

You have spent a few minutes reading this article.

Singapore is rewarding Singaporeans for reading.

The gamification strategy was reported by CNN and The Guardian on Sep. 15, 2026.

The objective is to get people to read for at least 15 minutes a day and to log their daily progress over time to cultivate the habit.

The ReadSG Challenge is by the National Library Board (NLB) and run on the citizen engagement platform, CrowdTask SG.

The ReadSG movement was launched on Sep. 6, The Straits Times reported.

It is a national reading initiative that invites Singaporeans to rediscover the joy of reading through a simple daily reading habit, according to the campaign objective.

It is being piloted from Sep. 6 to Dec. 31, 2026.

New features and enhancements will be introduced based on feedback.

Under the scheme, readers accrue points.

The points, when amassed, have a cash value and can be used for purchases at participating merchants.

People are allowed to log one session a day on the CrowdTask SG site to declare they have read for at least 15 minutes in a 24-hour period.

A session of 15 minutes or more is rewarded with 20 virtual coins.

A total of 1,000 coins is equivalent to S$1.

It takes 50 consecutive days of logging in to accumulate 1,000 coins.

Each session is successfully logged via self-reporting.

NLB's chief executive, Melissa Tam, said the movement comes at a time when people may spend less time engaging deeply with what they read due to an abundance of content and information.

“We live in a world of extraordinary abundance, of content, information and stimulation,” she said. “At any moment, we can scroll through hundreds of headlines, watch a video or get a summary of almost anything.”

She added: “We know that habits are built through small, consistent actions. So, we are starting with a simple goal – just read for 15 minutes a day. On the bus, before bed or over lunch.”