A nationwide initiative to boost literacy and numeracy skills amongst South African schoolchildren saw 1000 schools and non-profit organisations (NPOs) receive mobile library trolleys, as announced recently by the Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, alongside executives from Oxford University Press South Africa (OUPSA) and AVBOB.
The 2025 Road to Literacy campaign included over 100 beneficiaries from the Eastern Cape, with Uitenhage Primary School among the institutions set to receive the valuable educational resources. Other Eastern Cape recipients included Arcadia Primary School, Brylin Primary School and Caritas Primary School in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Each mobile library trolley, valued at R57 000, contains 500 OUPSA books carefully selected to support literacy and numeracy skills in alignment with the CAPS curriculum.
The campaign, which represented a total investment of R57 million, is designed to support Mother tongue Based Bilingual Education initiatives by providing materials in all 11 official written languages of South Africa.
Gwarube praised the initiative during a panel discussion last week, saying, “This initiative is a powerful example of what can be achieved through partnerships. The campaign addresses a pressing national priority, the development of foundational literacy and numeracy, while supporting policy frameworks aimed at integrating diversity into school curricula.”
The 2025 campaign marked substantial growth from its inaugural year in 2022, when only 180 library trolleys were distributed.
This year’s effort will see more than 500 000 books distributed nationwide, double the number from 2024.
Karen Simpson, Managing Director of OUPSA, emphasised the importance of mother tongue literacy, “Access to books in a learner’s mother tongue has a profound impact on their ability to grasp foundational concepts, stay engaged in the classroom, and remain in the education system.”
The mobile trolleys were specifically designed to be durable and accessible in shared or under-resourced learning environments.
They included materials for both reading and mathematics development, making the campaign one of few national projects focused on both literacy and numeracy at the foundational phase.
AVBOB Group CEO, Carl van der Riet highlighted the campaign’s core purpose, “Literacy and numeracy are academic skills and critical tools for participation, for opportunity, and dignity.
They are the building blocks of future learning and the means by which children are empowered to shape their own lives.”
The selection process involved 8 661 nominations from across all nine provinces, submitted by educators, caregivers, community leaders and members of the public, underscoring the nationwide engagement with the initiative.
