Providing reading materials to teachers in low-resource settings does not require a library in every school. It requires a practical system for sharing what exists.
The mobile book box initiative, developed by TDSO in cooperation with the Magic Libraries Foundation, is built on that principle. Each box contains 150 age-appropriate English titles across three grade levels, accompanied by comprehensive teaching guides, lesson plans, and assessment tools. The box circulates among teachers on a two-week loan cycle, managed through the provincial English Teacher Centre. This shared-access model keeps per-student costs low and is designed to remain functional beyond the initial funding period, with maintenance transitioning to local budget allocations and community contributions from Year 2 onwards.
In February 2026, the Foundation’s representatives visited TDSO’s training centre and Practice School in Siem Reap. Over two days, they observed classroom teaching, attended a staff workshop on the effective use of library resources, and joined training sessions with both trainers and teachers. The programme illustrated how the book boxes integrate directly into TDSO’s existing training structure, reinforcing the connection between professional development and day-to-day classroom practice rather than operating as a separate intervention.
With TDSO’s contract teacher training programme expanding to all 18 provinces in the 2026 academic year, the mobile book box model scales in parallel, providing 36 boxes across 18 provincial centres and reaching an estimated 2,000 teachers and 60,000 students by Year 2.
