A Unique Initiative Helping Underprivileged Students at Risk Due to Financial Challenges
In Lagos, Nigeria, a unique school initiative is providing education to underprivileged children while tackling the city’s plastic waste problem. Morit International School, located in Ajegunle, allows parents to pay tuition with used plastic bottles, an arrangement that has enabled families like Mujanatu Musa’s to send their children to school despite financial struggles.
Mujanatu Musa, a 40-year-old single mother living in the Ajegunle slum, relies on the school’s innovative program to educate her three children. Musa collects plastic waste to pay the tuition for her sons, Abdulrahman, 12, and 9-year-old twins Abdulwaris and Abdulmalik.
“The plastic is what helps me pay their tuition,” she said, explaining that without this initiative, her children would not have access to formal education. Every day, Musa and her children gather used plastic bottles to meet the school’s quota for tuition.
Morit International School was founded by Patrick Mbamarah, a chemistry graduate who wanted to give back to the low-income community where he grew up. After initially facing financial challenges, Mbamarah launched the plastic-for-tuition initiative in 2014. Parents unable to pay fees in cash can contribute by collecting and recycling plastic waste.
Though the scheme has proven successful in providing access to education and reducing pollution, Morit International School now faces significant challenges. The growing volume of plastic collected has overwhelmed the school’s limited storage space, and hiring transportation to deliver the plastic to recycling centers has become an unsustainable cost.
“Parents bring enough plastic bottles, but most times they take them back home because we don’t have space to keep them,” said Mbamarah. Without regular pick-up from recyclers, the initiative is struggling, and Mbamarah fears that the primary school could soon close.
The school currently educates 158 students, but with financial strain mounting, both staff numbers and resources are limited. Mbamarah has had to cut back on plastic collection, and fears a shutdown is imminent if solutions are not found.
Musa and other parents who depend on the school are deeply concerned about its future. Without Morit International, many of the children could join Nigeria’s growing number of out-of-school children, which is currently estimated at 10.5 million by UNICEF.
“If this school shuts down, I don’t know where I’ll find money to send my children to another school,” Musa lamented.
While several non-profits and government officials have promised assistance, no substantial aid has materialized, leaving the school in a precarious position.
Experts, like Debo Adeniyi of the Centre for Global Solutions and Sustainable Development, emphasize the need for more support, calling the initiative “highly commendable” for its dual impact on education and environmental sustainability.
As the school teeters on the edge of closure, the fate of these underprivileged students hangs in the balance, putting at risk not just their education but also a cleaner, greener Lagos.
Source: aljazeera (
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