2025 in Review: What It Takes to Build Education That Lasts

As 2025 comes to a close, it is important to pause. Not to count outputs or rehearse milestones, but to reflect on what it actually takes to advance education in contexts shaped by inequality, limited resources, and extraordinary resilience.

This year reminded us that progress in education is rarely dramatic. It is often quiet. It shows up in classrooms that work a little better, in children who feel seen, in teachers who finally have the tools they need, and in communities that begin to trust what is possible again.

At Gamaliel & Susan Onosode Foundation, 2025 was shaped by steady, intentional work across schools, partnerships, and learning spaces. What follows is not just a recap of what we did, but a reflection on what we learned, what mattered, and what lies ahead.

The Context We Are Working Within

Education in Nigeria continues to face deep structural challenges. Access remains uneven, quality varies widely, and public schools often operate under severe infrastructural and resource constraints. For many children, especially those from low-income or underserved communities, the gap between potential and opportunity is still wide.

Yet within these constraints, there is also persistence. Teachers continue to show up. Parents continue to hope. Children continue to learn wherever learning is possible.

Any meaningful education work must begin here, grounded in reality rather than abstraction. It must acknowledge limitations without surrendering to them, and focus on practical, responsive interventions that meet learners where they are.

Our Guiding Lens in 2025

Rather than chasing scale for its own sake, our work this year was guided by a simple lens: what would make learning more possible, more equitable, and more sustainable?

This meant prioritising access before innovation, partnerships over isolation, and long-term usefulness over one-off interventions. It meant centring children and teachers, not just infrastructure. And it meant paying attention to how learning spaces are actually used once they exist.

These principles shaped every major initiative we undertook in 2025.

From Vision to Practice: What We Built Together

Creating Spaces That Enable Learning

One of the most defining projects of the year was the refurbishment and commissioning of a fully equipped ICT Centre at Obele Community Junior High School in Surulere, Lagos.

What began in July 2025 as a response to the absence of digital learning infrastructure became, by September, a solar-powered, functional learning hub serving nearly 1,000 students. The centre now provides reliable power, computers, internet access, and a conducive environment for digital instruction in a public school that previously had none of these.

This project reaffirmed a simple truth: access changes what is possible. When students are given the tools to learn, curiosity expands. When teachers have resources, pedagogy improves. Infrastructure alone is not enough, but without it, progress is constrained.

The commissioning of the ICT Centre during the period of our founders’ memorial added deeper meaning to the work. It served as a reminder that education, when treated as a public good, continues to ripple outward long after individual moments have passed.

Celebrating Excellence and Possibility

In a system where academic effort often goes unnoticed, recognition matters. Through the Academic Excellence Award and scholarship support, we celebrated a student whose dedication stood out not because it was rare, but because it deserved to be affirmed.

This initiative was not about elevating one student above others, but about reinforcing a culture where effort, discipline, and learning are valued. Excellence, when recognised thoughtfully, can become motivation rather than pressure, inspiration rather than exclusion.

Learning Beyond the Classroom

Partnerships remained central to our work in 2025. Through long-standing collaborations with organisations such as Dolly Children Foundation, Destiny Trust Children Foundation, and Reel Foundation, we supported programs that extended learning beyond formal classrooms.

From summer learning initiatives and back-to-school support to STEAM bootcamps reaching children across multiple states, these partnerships allowed us to reach learners early, expose them to new possibilities, and build confidence alongside skills.

These interventions were not about producing immediate outcomes, but about widening horizons. Sometimes the most lasting impact is simply showing a child what could be.

What We Learned This Year

Across all our work, several lessons became clear.

Access changes behaviour before it changes outcomes. When barriers are removed, engagement often follows quickly, even if results take time.

Children respond rapidly when trust and opportunity are combined. Given the right environment, their adaptability and curiosity are remarkable.

Teachers remain the quiet backbone of the education system. Any sustainable progress must support them, not bypass them.

Impact does not always look impressive at first. Some of the most meaningful progress happens gradually, through consistency rather than visibility.

And finally, collaboration multiplies both reach and depth. Partnerships grounded in shared purpose create room for learning, accountability, and scale.

People, Partners, and Trust

None of this work happens in isolation. We are deeply grateful to our board members, partners, educators, school leaders, donors, and communities who placed their trust in us throughout the year.

Trust is not a given in educational work. It is earned through presence, follow-through, and humility. We do not take it lightly.

Looking Ahead to 2026

As we look to the year ahead, our focus remains clear.

We will continue to strengthen learning environments, deepen teacher support, and expand access to quality education through thoughtful partnerships. We will build on frameworks that work, refine those that need improvement, and remain responsive to the realities on the ground.

Initiatives like the Ideal Classroom Project and the Million Points of Light framework reflect our commitment to long-term thinking, sustainability, and shared responsibility.

The work ahead is not about doing more, but about doing better, together.

Quiet Work, Lasting Impact

Not all progress announces itself. Some of it is quiet, consistent, and deeply human. It shows up in classrooms where learning feels possible again, in students who begin to imagine differently, and in systems that slowly start to shift.

As 2025 ends, we carry forward gratitude for what was accomplished and resolve for what remains to be done. Education is not a single intervention or moment. It is a continuous act of belief, care, and commitment.

And that work continues.

For those who would like a deeper look at the year’s work, insights, and partnerships, our 2025 Annual Report offers a fuller account of what was achieved and what we are learning along the way.

We invite you to read the full report and reflect with us on what it takes to build education that lasts.

[Read the 2025 Annual Report]