MTN South Africa is developing an artificial intelligence (AI) layer for its LearnHub Plus education platform, to provide learners with more personalised support and interactive learning assistance.
This was announced by Storm Baatjies, senior specialist for new digital business at MTN SA, delivering a presentation at the recent Future Learning Labs 2026, hosted by Oxford University Press Africa.
LearnHub Plus is a mobile-first digital education platform developed through a partnership between MTN South Africa and Oxford University Press, aimed at making curriculum-aligned learning resources more accessible and affordable for South African high school learners.
Designed to support learners from Grade 8 to Grade 12, the platform offers digital textbooks, study guides, tutorials, video lessons, interactive learning activities, quizzes, revision materials and three-dimensional and virtual reality models to help learners understand complex concepts and prepare for examinations.
According to Baatjies, MTN is working with Oxford University Press on governance and approval processes to ensure the emerging technology is safe, ethical and appropriate for learners.
“We have introduced AI as a layer that can deepen understanding, not just generate answers,” said Baatjies.
“Rather than introducing a chatbot that simply supplies answers, MTN wants AI to help learners understand concepts, navigate educational content and identify gaps in their knowledge.”
The planned AI layer will use learner activity to inform how the platform responds to individual educational needs.
According to Baatjies, the approach involves observing learners’ assessment behaviour, identifying possible misconceptions, selecting an appropriate teaching response and evaluating what happens next.
Baatjies pointed out that the AI functionality is also intended to provide teachers and parents with a better understanding of learners’ strengths and areas of difficulty, helping them engage more closely with the curriculum.
The planned interface includes a prompt-based search function to help learners find relevant material, alongside an interactive AI companion designed to respond to learners in a conversational format.
LearnHub Plus already incorporates interactive content, including three-dimensional and virtual reality learning models.
Helping learners develop the ability to use AI effectively is also part of the broader objective, as prompting and interacting with AI are becoming increasingly relevant skills, she added.
However, the rollout remains subject to safeguards around the accuracy of AI-generated information, learner protection and the responsible use of educational content.
“It’s very easy to just slap AI onto a platform and say, oh, come and make learning much easier,” she warned. “An approach focused on supplying answers could undermine learners’ ability to think critically and engage with educational material. MTN and Oxford University Press are therefore working through governance processes before the AI components can be officially approved for use.”
Barriers to educational access
Other South African telecommunications operators also offer digital learning services. Vodacom’s e-Learning platform provides CAPS-aligned educational content, video lessons, interactive quizzes and progress tracking for learners from Grade R to Grade 12.
Telkom, meanwhile, offers TelkomLearn, which combines basic education resources, interactive live classes and gamified revision with higher education and digital skills courses through education partners.
LearnHub Plus was launched in September 2024 and is currently available to MTN subscribers, although Baatjies said the longer-term ambition is to expand access beyond the existing subscriber base.
Baatjies said LearnHub Plus reached a reported peak of nearly 990 000 subscribers in July 2026, although the figures do not represent an equivalent number of active individual learners.
The platform offers daily and monthly billing options. The daily option costs R5, allowing learners to subscribe when they need educational material, including in the run-up to tests and examinations, without committing to a monthly payment.
Despite the potential of AI to extend personalised support, Baatjies acknowledged that digital learning cannot overcome every barrier to educational access.
LearnHub Plus still requires learners to have a suitable device and connectivity. While digital platforms can reduce the cost of accessing educational content and certain forms of learning support, they cannot eliminate the cost of hardware.
“Affordable access, reliable connectivity, curriculum relevance, teacher enablement and responsible technology design would all be necessary to ensure AI benefits learners across different circumstances.
“AI can democratise capability, but only if access to AI itself is democratised, and that is a responsibility of all of us,” Baatjies concluded.
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