This is the report of a study of the educational services supplier sector in Lagos State. The study was commissioned by DEEPEN (Developing Effective Private Education Nigeria) and will form a part of the information and evidence into the Making Markets Work Approach (M4P) for education services providers to private schools serving low-income households in the State.

Private schools are in a significant majority in Lagos State. According to the schools census conducted in 2010, over 12,000 schools were recorded compared to 1,300 public schools (Harma, 2013).

Private schools are growing at a rapid rate (In 1998, according to Harma, (2011) most of these schools did not even exist).

In a recent conversation with an official of the Private Education and Special Projects Department (PESP) of the State Ministry of Education (MoE) to clarify the exact number of private schools in the State, the official confirmed that after the census of private schools in 2012, over 8,000 new schools have applied for registration at the rate of 4,000 schools per year.

Based on this rate of growth and the PESP official estimate that about 65% of private schools are serving low-income households, the present (2014) number of schools serving low-income households can be estimated at about 13,000