One of the leading secondary schools in Nigeria and the best in South East Nigeria.

In 2014, the Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) selected Grundtvig International Secondary School as its sole representative school in the South East Geo-political zone of Nigeria for its National Cradle to Career (NC2C) Scheme. The Scholarship scheme is an all-inclusive propramme that enables Nigerian pupils to gain access to six year education in reputable secondary schools across Nigeria. Grundtvig International Secondary School earned this position as one of the leading secondary schools in Nigeria and the best in South East Nigeria.

Grundtvig International Secondary School was honoured with Platinum Awards by the Africa Brands Review at a ceremony at Airport Hotel, Lagos, in 2015 and again in 2016. Platinum Awards were bestowed on only ten schools in Nigeria: the top ten schools in the country based on their performance in the 2014 and 2015 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) organised by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).

Grundtvig International Secondary School was also honoured at the 2016 edition of the West African Quality Education Awards which held at the Banquet Hall of Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Ikeja, Lagos on Friday 1st July 2016. The School was presented with a plaque and a certificate for emerging winner in West Africa of the following award category: Best in Value-Based Education and Life Skill Development School of the Year 2016. The ceremony was graced by dignitaries, schools and educational organisations from the West African sub region. The event was organised by the African Quality Institute.

In June 2018, at the invitation of the British Council in Nigeria, Grundtvig International Secondary School was present at the Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards ceremony held at The Civic Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, Victoria Island, Lagos on Friday, 29 June 2018. The School received an award for its student, Chi Nnoka, who achieved the highest (A*) score in English Language in the whole country at the Cambridge Exams. The School was also honoured with a TOP-IN-NIGERIA award. The Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards recognises the exceptional performance of learners around the world in the Cambridge international examinations. In 2019, three students gained full scholarship awards into top and Ivy League universities in USA following their outstanding 97th – 99th percentile scores in the Int’l Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT); and in 2020, our school received the PRESIDENTIAL AWARD AS OVERALL BEST PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOL IN NIGERIA in the President’s Teachers’ and Schools Excellence Awards (PTSEA).

More recently, in 2022, our student, Samuel Ozumba, achieved the THIRD HIGHEST JAMB UTME SCORE IN NIGERIA WITH 357; and our student, Victor Okpe, emerged top three in Nigeria at the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) National Whizkids Information Technology Competition and was honoured by Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami).

For further details and more of our awards, please visit our AWARDS page. Or read about the 4 REASONS TO CHOOSE GRUNDTVIG.

Education for Life

Our mission at the Grundtvig International Secondary School derives from our traditional education and the philosophy of Bishop N.F.S. Grundtvig of Denmark.

• We provide Education For Life.
• We recognise certificates but do not glorify them.
• We assist students to rediscover themselves and to develop a sense of real self-worth, merit and ability. This is the result of the education we give.
• Our criterion for success therefore is NOT the number of students we graduate, but the number of our graduates that are living useful and satisfactory lives to themselves, to their communities and to the nation.

Dr. Kachi E. Ozumba (1942-2011)

Dr. Kachi Esogbuna Ozumba was born in 1942 and grew up in Lagos and Oba. He studied English at the University of Ibadan. After a stint as a teacher at various schools, including Mayflower School Ikenne where he worked under its founder, the renowned social critic and educationist Dr. Tai Solarin (1922-1994); Kachi returned to Ibadan and earned a PhD in Educational Administration in 1974.

He lectured briefly at the University of Ibadan before pursuing a career at the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) where he rose to the rank of Senior Deputy Registrar and Head of the Test Development and Research Office (TEDRO). This placed him in a good position to witness the mass student ‘failures’, the impact of such ‘failures’ on students and society, and the effects of the one-sidedly bookish and certificate-oriented education—which he called ‘education for certificates’—prevalent in the country.

He began to search for a more holistic and relevant philosophy of education, and found this in our rich African tradition and in the ideas of the Danish educational reformer, Bishop N.F.S. Grundtvig (1783-1872), whose education-for-life philosophy had given rise to the Danish folk high school and efterskole movements, and had influenced and given rise to many other similar educational movements across the world. He then quit his job at WAEC to pioneer this idea in Nigeria, adapting the said philosophy to the peculiarities of the Nigerian terrain and founding the Grundtvig Institute at Oba in 1984 to cater for the casualties from the one-sidedly bookish education system. He later gained much support for his work, especially from the Association of Danish Folk High Schools (FFD), and also from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), the Danish Association for International Cooperation (MS), among others.

In 1998, he founded the Grundtvig International Secondary School Oba to extend his education-for-life work to younger students, in order to ‘catch them young’, as he put it. This development also followed from requests from parents that their younger children be afforded the benefit of such a unique education.

Despite being physically challenged in the later part of his life, Dr. Kachi Esogbuna Ozumba continued to seek more avenues to extend his educational work. He remained doggedly committed to his vision, and to his belief that the Grundtvigian concept of “School for Life” can contribute positively towards our national development.

Dr. Ozumba is the founder of the Grundtvig Movement of Nigeria which owns and runs the Grundtvig International Secondary School, Grundtvig Institute and the upcoming Grundtvig Polytechnic.

Grundtvig Movement of Nigeria (GMN) Promoting Education for Life

Grundtvig International Secondary School is owned and run by Grundtvig Movement of Nigeria (GMN) is a non-profit non-governmental organization (NGO) registered by the Federal Government of Nigeria under the Land (Perpetual Succession) Act Cap. 98. It is committed to the practice, propagation and development of “Education for Life” in Nigeria. This is education that seeks to equip students not only to make a living but to live lives useful and satisfactory to themselves, their community and nation.

It thus facilitates enlightenment, self-discovery, cultural awareness and active citizenship, among other values; and differs from the one-sidedly bookish and examination/certificate-oriented education prevalent in our society today.  This approach to education is based on our rich tradition and the philosophy of the Danish educational reformer, N.F.S. Grundtvig (1783-1872) whose ideas have also given rise to the Danish folk high school and efterskole movements, and have influenced and given rise to many other similar educational movements across the world.

The Grundtvig Movement was founded in Nigeria in 1990 by late Dr. Kachi E. Ozumba. Its activities and projects are overseen and controlled by a Board of Trustees.