More than 2,000 primary schools and education non-profit organizations (NPOs) across South Africa will receive new mobile trolley library resources in 2026 as the AVBOB Road to Literacy campaign expands to its largest scale yet, introducing braille-inclusive trolley libraries for the first time.

Announced at a Johannesburg event attended by Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube, the initiative will deliver 2,000 trolley libraries to under-resourced primary schools and NPOs nationwide. Each mobile trolley contains 500 Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) aligned books, bringing the total number of books distributed this year to one million. The campaign continues to prioritize communities with limited access to quality reading materials.

The AVBOB Road to Literacy campaign was launched in partnership with OUP Southern Africa in 2022 to help address South Africa’s literacy challenges by providing primary schools and education NPOs with mobile classroom libraries filled with CAPS-aligned books. The initiative focuses on the Foundation and Intermediate Phases and is designed to give learners more regular access to age-appropriate reading materials that supports literacy and numeracy.

A major development in 2026 is the introduction of 10 braille-inclusive trolley libraries for selected schools and organizations that support blind and partially sighted learners, bringing the total number of trolley libraries to 2,010. Each of the braille trolleys contain more than 100 braille anthologies and 350 sighted Aweh! readers, and make it possible for blind, partially sighted, and sighted children to engage with the same stories.

Karen Simpson

Managing Director of OUP Southern Africa

“The need for books that children can see themselves in, and access in ways that are meaningful for them, has never been clearer. Bringing braille into Road to Literacy for the first time is an important step forward. It allows more learners to experience the joy of story, language, and learning, while creating opportunities for shared reading across classrooms and communities.”

From 2022, to 2026, the AVBOB Road to Literacy campaign has donated 3,893 trolley libraries and distributed approximately two million books, reaching just under 4,000 beneficiary schools and education NPOs. With the 2026 rollout now donating braille libraries, the initiative continues to grow in scale while widening the kinds of learners it can reach.

Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube noted: “Partnerships with business can go a long way towards improving educational outcomes in the country. AVBOB has been an incredible partner to the education sector, and their trolley libraries are bridging the literacy gap in under-resourced schools. The inclusion of braille books in this year’s trolley libraries will ensure that even learners with visual impairments are not left behind in the literacy journey. Access to knowledge and the joy of reading must extend to every child, regardless of their circumstance. We must work collaboratively as business, government, and society to build a just and equitable education system.”

Nakedi Pilane, Executive Director: Business Development and Financial Services at AVBOB, said: “The increasing demand for trolley libraries has been one of the clearest indicators of the initiative’s value. Schools that initially received a single trolley now request additional resources to support the momentum they see in their learners. Teachers tell us about classrooms that feel more energized, about learners who look forward to reading time, and about children who are discovering language as an avenue to curiosity and self-expression. These shifts may appear modest, but in educational terms, they represent meaningful, long-term progress. When reading begins to take root, a community begins to unlock its potential.”

You can watch a recap of the 2026 recipient announcement ceremony here.

Managing Director of OxfordAQA

“At OxfordAQA, our commitment is simple: to make international exams work better for everyone. These enhancements are a direct response to what schools have told us they need. By releasing results earlier, expanding exam series, and providing greater flexibility for the International EPQ, we are helping schools tailor assessment to their teaching programmes and giving students more opportunities to succeed.”

We are pleased to announce the launch of the first in a series of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, designed to help teachers save time, personalize learning, and navigate some of the biggest challenges faced in the classroom. 

The tool, Plan Assist, has been developed in partnership with leading global edtech provider Avallain, combining our pedagogical expertise with advanced AI technology.

With resource generation at its core, Plan Assist works to help teachers to create custom materials, such as lesson plans, glossaries, flashcards, and much more. When generating questions and answers through Avallain’s technology, it leverages trusted OUP content in the prompts to produce high-quality, curriculum-aligned outputs. By simplifying the planning process, it helps to save time for teachers while delivering results tailored ​​​for​ them and their students. 

Ensuring value through teacher-led testing

The technology that powers Plan Assist has already been recognized in major edtech awards, including BETT and the Learning Technology Awards.

Ahead of launch, we carried out a rigorous research and testing programme involving external subject matter experts, pilot trials with UK and international teachers, and extensive testing across four languages and multiple regions. This ensured the tool is robust, reliable, and provided real value for diverse classrooms, with participating teachers reporting ​that ​the tool provides “a range of resources to support a teacher successfully in the classroom with ideas, content, and activities” and praising “its ability to instantly rewrite the same content for different audiences”.

Teacher voices driving more effective support

To reflect the realities of classroom life, we gathered feedback from our global teacher network to provide insights into the pressures they are currently facing and what they need from digital platforms to work more efficiently.

Across the responses, three challenges were highlighted in particular: 

• not having enough time and feeling over-stretched (74%) 
• mental health and wellbeing (55%) 
• budget restrictions (54%) 

Alongside these pressures, teachers also outlined what an effective digital platform must offer to truly support their work. Teachers said they needed: 

• The ability to download, adapt, and print ready‑made teaching and planning resources (56%) 
• Tools to support front‑of‑class teaching using high‑quality presentations (54%) 
• Functionality to monitor and report on student progress (52%) 
• AI features to help create lesson plans and teaching resources (50%) 

They also emphasized the importance of: 

• Immediate, actionable feedback for learners 
• Auto‑marking and data tracking 
• Exam board or subject specificity 
• Student interactivity and engagement features 

These insights provided a clear picture of the challenges teachers face and the digital capabilities they value most, shaping the focus of our support to ensure all products and services make a real difference.

Fiona Fortes

International Product Director in our Education division

“Teachers everywhere are being asked to do more with less time. By combining OUP’s trusted content with responsible, innovative AI capabilities, we are giving teachers practical tools that make a real difference in the classroom. At OUP, our focus has always been to lead with learning and ensure that technology is there to support teachers. Our key principles remain at the heart of everything we do – creating resources that have real purpose and a human in the loop, while prioritizing quality content and pedagogy and safe, ethical use.

As we continue to innovate, we look for opportunities where technology can deliver meaningful, positive change within education, when developed responsibly and in collaboration with our global teaching community.”

Monika Morawska, COO at Avallain, said: 

“Building on our expertise in digital content creation technology and the rich feedback of the 60,000 highly engaged educators actively using our existing AI toolset TeacherMatic, we are delighted to bring proven, practical, and ethical AI features to more teachers through Plan Assist. Our collaboration with OUP has been one of shared goals and values: putting humans, educational outcomes, and creative, impactful content first.” 

Plan Assist will be available on Kerboodle, our online learning platform which supports teachers to save time and engage students with a range of resources. It will continue rolling out to courses in 2026.

You can find out more about Plan Assist here.