Minister Siviwe Gwarube attends Avbob road to literacy campaign announcement, 29 May

The Minister of Basic Education, Ms Siviwe Gwarube, will attend the official announcement of the 2025 AVBOB Road to Literacy campaign beneficiaries at an event hosted at the Sandton Hotel, today, Thursday, 29 May 2025.

Now in its fourth year, the AVBOB Road to Literacy campaign — delivered in partnership with Oxford University Press South Africa (OUPSA) — is one of South Africa’s most extensive mobile library initiatives, aimed at improving access to books for young learners, schools, and community organisations across all nine provinces.This year’s campaign marks a significant expansion, with 1 000 schools and NGOs set to receive trolley libraries, each stocked with 500 books aligned to the national curriculum and available in all 11 official languages. The total number of books distributed in 2025 exceeds 500 000, doubling the impact made in the previous year. Each library trolley is valued at R57 000, bringing the total investment in this year’s campaign to R57 million.

The Minister will join AVBOB CEO Carl van der Riet, Oxford University Press SA MD Karen Simpson, and Executive Director of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, Gugu Ndebele, to celebrate this important milestone. The event will also feature a panel discussion focused on advancing literacy and numeracy in the foundational phase through equitable access to books.

Members of the media are invited to attend as follows:
Date: Today, Thursday 29 May 2025
Venue: Sandton Hotel, Johannesburg
Time: 17:00 – 19:00

Enquiries:
Elijah Mhlanga
Head of Communications
Cell: 083 580 8275

Lukhanyo Vangqa
Media Liaison Officer
Cell: 066 302 1533

Terence Khala
Media Liaison Officer
Cell: 081 758 1546 

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