Lagos, IDP Foundation, SEED Seek Stronger Support for Affordable Non-State Schools

Funmi Ogundare

The Policy, Advocacy and Engagement Manager of IDP Foundation, Constance Kwaa Ababio, Tuesday urged African governments to strengthen partnerships with affordable non-state schools to address the continent’s growing shortage of school places and improve access to quality education.
Ababio, who made the call at the African affordable non-state education summit themed: ‘ No School Left Out: RISE Up for Affordable Non-state Schools’, in Lagos, said governments could not bridge the widening education infrastructure gap by relying solely on the construction of public schools.
In her keynote, she stressed the need to recognise and support existing low-cost private schools.
She disclosed that Africa would require an estimated 33 million additional school places in the coming years to meet growing demand, warning that the cost of acquiring land, constructing classrooms, providing furniture and recruiting teachers would make it difficult for governments to meet the demand independently.
According to her, affordable non-state schools already operating in underserved communities offer an opportunity for governments to expand access to education through strategic partnerships rather than building entirely new institutions.
“These schools already exist, there are teachers in the classrooms, and the proprietors have invested their resources in establishing them. Governments can achieve more by partnering with these schools,” she stated.
Ababio noted that the debate over whether affordable non-state schools should exist had gone beyond relevance, arguing that the more pressing concern should be how to ensure that children enrolled in such institutions receive quality education.
She said evidence showed that the sector was expanding faster than public education, with non-state schools recording an estimated growth rate of 4.3 per cent compared with 2.8 per cent for state schools.
She added that the African continent currently had close to 150,000 non-state schools, many of which were established by ordinary people to provide affordable education in communities where government provision remained inadequate.
Emphasising on the origins of IDP Foundation, Ababio said its founder, Irene Pritzker was inspired to establish the organisation after watching a documentary by Prof. James Tooley on low-cost private schools.
She explained that the documentary prompted the founder to travel from the United States to Ghana, where she discovered a small school established by a woman in a market in Accra, to serve children of market traders and other residents.
The school proprietor, she said, had struggled to access financing to improve its infrastructure because financial institutions considered the school too risky for lending.
The experience inspired further investigations into similar community-established schools across Ghana and eventually shaped the foundation’s mission.
Ababio said that for the past 17 years, IDP Foundation had worked with local private schools in Ghana and Kenya, strengthening school leadership, facilitating access to finance through partnerships and advocating for their recognition in education policies.
She identified disability and inclusion, child safety and safeguarding, and learning outcomes as three critical priorities that stakeholders in the affordable non-state education sector must address.
On disability and inclusion, she called for improved data collection and harmonisation to ensure that schools operating outside the public system were properly recognised and included in government education planning.
The manager said many school proprietors remained reluctant to share information with government because of previous experiences of neglect and the absence of tangible benefits from such engagements.
She, however, urged stakeholders to build trust and demonstrate how stronger collaboration could benefit schools, learners and the wider education system.
Ababio also advocated simpler regulatory processes and realistic standards that would encourage schools to register and work towards meeting established requirements rather than remain outside the system.
On child safety, she said,” school proprietors must strengthen recruitment procedures, conduct background checks on prospective employees and establish clear mechanisms for reporting and responding to cases of abuse.”
She expressed concern over reports of sexual abuse of pupils by teachers in Ghana, noting that some school authorities lacked the awareness and procedures required to manage safeguarding concerns effectively.
“Once a parent trusts you enough to bring their child to your school, you have the responsibility to make sure that the child is safe,” she said.
She also called for improved sanitation facilities, particularly clean toilets for girls, noting that inadequate menstrual hygiene facilities could contribute to absenteeism among female students.
The IDP foundation manager further urged school owners to address unsafe infrastructure and introduce systems for monitoring pupils’ attendance to ensure that children were not exposed to preventable risks.
On learning outcomes, she stressed the need to improve teacher quality through targeted training and more flexible pathways to professional certification.
She urged policymakers to explore ways of recognising the experience and expertise of teachers in affordable private schools while helping them obtain the required qualifications.
Ababio also called on education authorities to extend teacher training programmes organised for public schools to their private school counterparts, arguing that all teachers serving children within the same communities should have access to professional development opportunities.
She proposed targeted government support for affordable private schools operating in underserved communities, including infrastructure assistance, subsidies to reduce the financial burden on households and policies that would support schools in areas without accessible public institutions.
In her remarks, the Executive Director of SEED Care and Support Foundation, Mrs. Olanrewaju Oniyitan called on African governments to recognise, include and support affordable non-state schools in their education policies and planning, warning that millions of children accessing education through the sector cannot afford to be left behind.
She stressed the need for governments to engage more constructively with school owners and other stakeholders to strengthen the delivery of quality education across the continent.
Oniyitan stressed that while public education remained the ideal, governments must acknowledge the significant role affordable non-state schools play in providing learning opportunities, particularly for children from economically disadvantaged communities.
She stated: “We are not asking our governments to abdicate their responsibility. We are asking them to fulfil that responsibility more intelligently, more inclusively and more realistically.
“We are not asking anyone to lower standards or to ignore the challenges of schools serving our most economically disadvantaged communities. What we are asking for is Recognition, Inclusion, Support and Engagement ( RISE) required for them to improve.”
The executive director recalled the circumstances that led to the establishment of the foundation 10 years ago, saying that her exposure to affordable non-state schools through research and field visits changed her understanding of the education landscape in Nigeria.
She also recalled being moved by the commitment of children from low-income families to learning, the dedication of teachers and the sacrifices of school proprietors struggling to keep their institutions running.
According to her, the experience also made her realise that she was a beneficiary of affordable non-state education, having attended an affordable faith-based Catholic school after losing her mother at the age of 10.
She explained that the school provided the opportunity for her to continue her secondary education and eventually proceed to university.
“That day, something changed with me, and I wanted something to be done. These schools needed to be seen, recognised, supported and given their rightful place in the education system. That was the beginning of SEED,” she stated.
Oniyitan said the foundation’s work over the past decade had evolved from an initial response to the realities of affordable non-state education into sustained research, sector engagement, school quality improvement, policy advocacy, government system strengthening and coalition building.
She noted that experience had shown that goodwill alone was insufficient to improve the sector, stressing the need for stronger institutional systems, empowered school associations, evidence-based policymaking and platforms for stakeholders to share experiences and address common challenges.
Also speaking, the Lagos State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr. Jamiu Tolani Alli-Balogun, called for stronger collaboration between public and affordable non-state schools to expand access to quality education, insisting that private education providers should be regarded as partners rather than competitors in the development of the state’s education sector.
He stressed that government-owned schools alone could not meet the educational needs of the state’s rapidly growing population.
Affordable non-state schools, he noted, had become important partners in expanding access to education, particularly in communities where public school infrastructure was under pressure.
According to him, their contributions to educational access, employment generation, community development and human capital development could not be overlooked.
“We must move beyond seeing public and non-state schools as separate or competing systems. Rather, we must recognise them as complementary components of the education system,” he said.
Alli-Balogun noted that education was on the concurrent legislative list, stressing that state governments had significant responsibilities and opportunities to develop policies that addressed their peculiar educational challenges.
He said the state had consistently demonstrated leadership in education governance, particularly in quality assurance, curriculum development and the introduction of innovative learning programmes.
The commissioner emphasised investments in teacher professional development and the activities of the Office of Education Quality Assurance (OEQA), which monitors school operations, promotes standards and ensures compliance with established educational guidelines.
According to him, “the state’s regulatory approach goes beyond inspection and enforcement to include constructive engagement, guidance and capacity development, particularly for affordable non-state schools operating under financial and infrastructural constraints.”
The commissioner, however, stressed that affordability must not translate into inferior education, urging stakeholders to explore innovative financing arrangements to support affordable non-state school operators.
He called on financial institutions, philanthropists, corporate organisations and development partners to provide grants, infrastructure support, learning materials and other essential resources to eligible schools.
Alli-Balogun also advocated, “stronger investment in teachers. Their capacity and professional competence remained critical to delivering quality education, irrespective of school ownership.”
He urged affordable non-state schools to take advantage of professional development programmes, instructional workshops and training opportunities, while encouraging collaboration among universities, teacher training institutions, professional associations and private school networks.