By Abiodun Awosanya
Subject: URGENT NEED TO REGULATE TEXTBOOK AND WORKBOOK POLICIES IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN LAGOS STATE
Your Excellency,
I write to you today as a deeply concerned parent, speaking not only for myself, but for countless families across Lagos State who are silently struggling with the increasing financial pressure imposed by private basic and secondary schools through excessive, and unsustainable textbook and workbook policies.
While your administration deserves credit for its investments in public education such as infrastructure upgrades, recruitment of qualified teachers, and digitization efforts, it is critical we also address the unregulated practices in private education, where the majority of Lagos children are enrolled today.
In years past, under the visionary leadership of Lateef Jakande (1979–1983), Lagos set a gold standard in education, built on accessibility, and sustainability. Textbooks were standardized, reusable, and aligned with national curricula. Families passed books from one child to another, preserving both economic value and learning continuity. This culture continued under military governors like Commodore Gbolahan Mudasiru (1984–1986), and was further sustained, to an extent, during the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (1999–2007). These policies helped shield parents from exploitation, particularly in book procurement.
Fast forward to today, the situation in private schools has taken a different turn. The question popping up is “how did we get here, Mr. Governor?”. Many private basic and secondary schools now require parents to purchase new, branded textbooks and one-time-use workbooks every academic year, even when previous editions are virtually unchanged. What a waste! Some go further to impose compulsory school-branded materials that cannot be sourced elsewhere.
These books are often not reusable, and in the case of workbooks, are designed to be filled out and discarded. Parents are made to repurchase the same materials each year for every child, regardless of sibling progression or curriculum stability. The practice has turned learning materials into a disposable commodity. Wasteful! exploitative! Economically punishing! This is indeed a sorry case.
This trend is especially distressing in today’s economic climate, where inflation has driven up the cost of living, and many households are struggling to meet basic needs. It is not unusual for textbook and workbook expenses to exceed ₦80,000–₦120,000 per child per session in some private schools, excluding tuition, uniforms, and levies. This is exhausting, Mr Governor sir.
Your Excellency, this is a silent crisis affecting the working and middle class, the very backbone of Lagos State. It is unacceptable that basic education, which should be a right, is being commercialized to this extent by institutions licensed and operating under the supervision of the state.
We, therefore, urge your administration to take decisive action through the Ministry of Education to regulate textbook and workbook policies in all privately owned basic and secondary schools in Lagos State. I want to therefore recommend the following:
- Mandate the use of standardized, reusable textbooks across private schools, aligned with approved national or Lagos State curriculum.
- Ban the use of school-branded or publisher-specific materials that must be purchased new every year.
- Encourage secondhand book culture by promoting policies that support book recycling and reuse within schools and communities.
- Enforce price transparency and approve booklists in advance to prevent exploitative practices.
These steps are not only necessary, they are urgent. Without intervention, many parents will be forced to withdraw their children from private education, not for lack of will, but for lack of means. While this might result to overwhelming and overburden to the public schools, it also threatens the overall quality of education in the state and undermines the inclusiveness your administration has worked hard to promote.
We hope that under your leadership, Lagos will again champion policies that place families, not profit, at the heart of education.
Yours sincerely,
Abiodun Awosanya
Concerned Parent & Lagosian
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 08053320933
