As part of its ongoing commitment to strengthening the education ecosystem, SEED Care and Support Foundation, on April 23rd, 2025 organised the “All Hands on Deck” workshop for Affordable Non-State Schools in Ikeja, Lagos State.

The workshop, facilitated through a small grants programme in partnership with Global Schools Forum and IDF Foundation, organized actors within the affordable non-state education ecosystem including school owners, school leaders (principals/head teachers), parents, teachers, alumni, school associations and allies in the system, to collaboratively discuss challenges, opportunities, and practical solutions to ensure an equitable education system for all children.

Collective Action for Greater Impact
Globally, without non-state actors, the education of 350 million more children would fall to the state. The non-state education sector plays a huge role in providing education for children from low-income families and Lagos State is an example, with almost 90% of primary schools being non-state.

Representatives of the leadership of members of the Coalition of Low-Fee Private School Associations, Lagos State, flagged off the workshop expressing the need for collaboration, without which their actions can work at cross-purposes or lead to duplication of efforts.

The Executive Director of SEED Care and Support Foundation, Olanrewaju Oniyitan, expressed in her welcome address that elevating the education sector cannot be left for a sect of individuals or organisations alone and called on actors in the education sector on the need for collaborative effort, noting that there are bigger tasks ahead.

According to her, the workshop is an expansion of SEED’s previous work which started in 2016 working at the school level with the affordable non-state schools. In 2019, SEED begun to work at the systems level, engaging affordable non-state school associations and the government.

By 2023, the foundation’s active advocacy work fully kicked off with the All Hands on Deck workshop and has since then pushed for the interest of the affordable non-state sector in Lagos State.

While noting that the foundation’s goal is to ensure that non-state schools can provide quality education to children from low-income families, it recognises the need for collective affirmative action to achieve greater impact.

“This All Hands on Deck workshop encourages ecosystem stakeholders to come together as a collective that can speak with one voice. We want to dream bigger, there is more work to be done and each stakeholder must play a role and leverage their strengths within our education systems.” she said.

With representation from the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Lagos State, the strategy workshop drew action points from the grassroots level.

In addition 6 Working Groups were inaugurated to cover: (1) ⁠Learning Crisis; ⁠(2) Out-of-School Children; (3) Teacher Development & Welfare; ⁠(4) Multiple Taxes, Levies & Fees; ⁠(5) School Registration, Approval & Census; and (6) Access to Finance.

Each stakeholder group in the room also took their pledge adapted from “The Salzburg Statement on Collective Action for Education Equity” to launch the implementation work.

Call to Action
The 2021/22 UNESCO GEM report on Non-State Actors in Education called for all schools, whether state or non-state, to be recognised as being part of one education system. This call to action requires that non-state providers, such as Affordable Non-State Schools who provide education to marginalised communities around the world, be included in policy planning processes.

Hence, the All Hands on Deck Collective, with its tagline, “RISE Up, No School Left Out. No Child Left Behind” calls for the amendment of the Lagos State Education Law & Policy to ensure the Recognition, Inclusion, Support, and Engagement (RISE) of affordable non-state schools to support the state’s education agenda, in the pursuit of Sustainable Development Goal 4.

About SEED Care and Support Foundation
SEED Care and Support Foundation is a non-profit that supports the affordable non-state education sector to deliver access to quality education for all children by providing advocacy, evidence and a learning network. We envision a world where children no matter their background have access to quality education to thrive & succeed. SEED ensures the education ecosystem works for ALL children, by redefining the role of the affordable non-state sector. We see a Nigeria where the right to relevant quality education is fulfilled with NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND.

About Global School Forum

Global Schools Forum (GSF) is a collaborative community, innovation accelerator, and partnership builder for non-state organisations working to improve education at scale for underserved children in low- and middle-income countries. Its centres on building a mission-aligned and globally representative community and collaborative community of non-state organisations, deepening engagement with and between the community via formal and informal connections, communities of practice and networking opportunities and working to improve education outcomes for children.

Through the All Hands On Deck For SDG 4 initiative, Global Schools Forum is supporting non-state initiatives that contribute towards more inclusive education systems. It contains a set of resources including toolkit case studies, presentations, guides and facilitator notes to support better collaboration and integration across national, subnational and regional education systems.

The initiative calls for affirmative action by all education stakeholders for governments to benefit from the experiences and expertise of the affordable non-state schools through their voice in policy development, implementation, and monitoring.
About IDP Foundation

IDP Foundation is a philanthropic organisation dedicated to making philanthropy more sustainable.  IDP Foundation achieves this by viewing grants and investments as catalytic capital in a variety of areas – first and foremost, education in the developing world but also cutting-edge medical research and investing in early-stage entrepreneurial initiatives.

It focuses on improving access to quality education for all children and committed to addressing the gap in quality education provision. At the heart of its mission is working in partnership with a broad network of stakeholders to improve access to, and quality of, all education for all children, now.

About All Hands on Deck

All Hands On Deck For SDG 4, is an Initiative which aims to resolve the challenges of a lack of recognition, integration and support, by creating resources and practical tools to foster better collaboration between affordable non-state schools and government.

The approach of the initiative aims to inform the strategic plans of implementing organisations (including private schools associations, NGOs, or research organisations) on effective means to foster better collaboration between governments and the non-state schools sector, initiate funding organisations’ understanding of where greater collaboration has had an impact on national systems change, and influence global organisations involved in developing resources and setting norms in education, to further support the global education eco-system through better collaboration between governments and the ANS.