Lagos school’s unique plastic-for-tuition program struggles amid high logistical costs

• In Ajegunle, Lagos, a school that allows parents to pay tuition with plastic waste is struggling to stay afloat due to high logistical costs
• Mujanatu Musa, a mother of three, relies on this initiative to educate her children, collecting plastic bottles to cover their school fees
• Despite the innovative "plastic-for-tuition" program, the school faces financial challenges that threaten its survival

In Ajegunle, a slum in Lagos, Nigeria, a school that allows parents to pay tuition with plastic waste is facing severe challenges.

Mujanatu Musa, a 40-year-old mother of three, relies on this initiative to educate her children. Living in a one-room apartment made of rusty iron sheets, Musa earns about 2,000 naira ($1.30) a day from hairdressing.

Innovative Nigerian school accepting plastic waste for tuition faces financial crisis. Photo credit: Legit Nigeria
Source: Original

Musa’s children, Abdulrahman, 12, and 9-year-old twins Abdulwaris and Abdulmalik, attend Morit International School.

Creative tuition payment scheme threatened by rising operational expenses

“Their father has left us since 2020. The plastic is what helps me pay their tuition,” Musa told Al Jazeera. “I couldn’t afford to send them to school. My children and I are always picking up used plastic bottles around us. They know their education depends on it, and we even go to event venues to pick.”

Morit International School was established in 2010 by Patrick Mbamarah, a chemistry graduate. Initially, the tuition was 6,000 naira ($3.66) per term, but many parents could not afford it. The school shut down in 2012 due to unpaid fees but reopened in 2014.

Facing financial difficulties again, Mbamarah introduced the “plastic-for-tuition” initiative. “I was walking down the street one day when the sight of plastic bottles scattered everywhere struck me. This is money,” he was quoted to have said.

However, the initiative has created logistical challenges. Hiring a pick-up van to transport the plastic to recycling points is costly and drains the school’s funds. This crisis has limited the initiative to the primary school, putting the entire project at risk of collapse.

Man builds 3-bedroom with plastic bottles

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that Yahaya Ahmed, a Nigerian engineer, has built a house in Kaduna using 14,800 sand-filled plastic bottles as bricks.

Premium Times reports that Ahmed is the director of a non-governmental organisation, Developmental Association of Renewable Energies in Nigeria (DARE).

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Source: Legit.ng