About Al-Ibrab Memorial School

A class in session at Al-Ibrab Memorial School

May 2020 Founded

Who we are

A school built for the children who were being left out.

Al-Ibrab Memorial School — A.I.M.S. — stands in Tudun Murtala, Kano, in Northern Nigeria. We are a privately owned institution, and from the day we opened our doors our purpose has been narrow and deliberate: quality education and support for orphans and less privileged children.

Northern Nigeria has one of the highest out-of-school populations anywhere in the world, and the reason is rarely that a family does not value education. It is that school costs money a family does not have. So we built the school around that single obstacle rather than around the children who could clear it.

That decision shapes everything downstream. Our fees are low and published. Application forms are free. A limited number of scholarship places cover between half and all of the fee. And no pupil is placed by their age when their ability says otherwise.

How admission works

What we hold to

Four commitments, and we would rather be judged on them.

Nobody is turned away for money

Forms are free, fees are low, and scholarships exist precisely for the families who still cannot reach them.

A child is taught where they are

Every applicant sits with us before placement, so a pupil joins the class they will thrive in rather than the one their birthday suggests.

The money is accounted for

The full fee schedule is published on this site, term by term, and sponsors are written to at the end of each term.

Children are protected first

Photographs are published with guardian consent, and we never put a child's name beside their picture.

A day at A.I.M.S.

Morning to home time, the way a child lives it.

None of it is remarkable, and that is exactly the point. An ordinary school day is the thing a sponsorship actually buys.

First thing

Assembly

The whole school in the yard, in full uniform — the uniform, shoes and books a year's fee covers.

A teacher working with pupils during a classroom lesson

Mid-morning

Lessons

Every pupil sits in the class where they will actually thrive, rather than the one their age suggests.

Break

Fruit Day

One of the fixtures in the school calendar that isn't a lesson, and the one they remember.

Pupils leaving the school at the end of the day

Home time

Back tomorrow

Which, for most of the children here, is precisely what somebody else's ₦10,000 paid for.

See more of life at the school

The school's shape

From four years old to school-leaving, without changing schools.

A child who starts with us does not have to leave us partway through to continue their education. That continuity matters more than it sounds — a transfer is one of the most common moments for a pupil to drop out altogether.

Early years

First Year Primary 1 takes children at four to five years old — the beginning of formal schooling, and for many of our pupils the first classroom they have ever sat in.

Primary, ages 4 to 11

The main body of the school. Exceptional pupils may enter directly at Class 3 at six or seven years old, which is what the placement interview is for.

Secondary

Secondary education continues on the same site, so no pupil has to leave us mid-journey or find a new school at the hardest possible moment to find one.

Safeguarding

About the photographs on this site.

Every photograph of a pupil on this website is published with the consent of that child's parent or guardian. We do not publish a child's name alongside their photograph, and we do not name the child a particular sponsorship supports.

Where a story is told about a pupil, they are described by their class and circumstance, never identified. If you are a parent or guardian and would like a photograph removed, write to us and it comes down — no explanation required.

Contact the school

Take the next step

One term. ₦10,000. One child who stays in school.

Most of our pupils are here because someone else paid. You can be that someone for a term, a year, or a whole scholarship place.

Sponsor a child Apply for a place

About the school