Shafaqna India: Mujanatu Musa’s one-room shack, built from rusted iron sheets, stands in Ajegunle, a densely populated slum in Lagos, Nigeria. Surrounded by dilapidated buildings, the makeshift home shelters the 40-year-old mother and her three children—12-year-old Abdulrahman, and 9-year-old twins Abdulwaris and Abdulmalik.

Since separating from her husband three years ago, Musa has been struggling to provide for her family. She relies on the meager income from her hairdressing work, earning about 2,000 naira ($1.30) a day, which often leaves her borrowing money from neighbors when there are no customers.

Living in poverty, Musa and her children are part of the 63% of Nigeria’s population—approximately 133 million people—who face multidimensional poverty. Without the help of a local school that allows families to pay tuition with used plastic bottles, her children would not have access to formal education.

“Their father left us in 2020, and it’s the plastic that helps me pay their tuition,” Musa said. “I couldn’t afford to send them to school otherwise. My children and I collect used plastic bottles, even going to event venues to pick them.”

In Ajegunle, privately run schools are preferred over government schools, which are often overcrowded, despite public education being officially “free.” Government schools charge about 5,000 naira ($3) per student per term to cover operational costs. The Musa children attend Morit International School, located a kilometer from their home, where they can pay tuition with plastic waste.

The school, established in 2010 by chemistry graduate Patrick Mbamarah, initially charged 6,000 naira ($3.66) per term, but many families in the area couldn’t afford it. After facing financial difficulties, the school shut down in 2012. However, in 2014, Mbamarah launched the “plastic-for-tuition” initiative after noticing the abundance of plastic waste littering the streets.

“I realized that these plastic bottles were essentially money,” Mbamarah told Al Jazeera. He introduced the idea to parents, allowing them to pay school fees with used plastic bottles and sachet water waste, which the school recycles for income. “The parents embraced the idea wholeheartedly,” he added, turning the initiative into a lifeline for many struggling families while helping reduce plastic pollution in the community.