SchoolCity: building the directory that makes great schools findable

Why we built a public school directory — and how it changes the economics of school marketing in Nigeria.

When a family moves to a new city in Nigeria — or when a child finishes primary school and parents begin looking for a secondary — the search process is almost entirely informal. You ask a neighbour. You post in a WhatsApp group. You drive past schools in the area and note which ones look well-maintained. SchoolCity is Terma's answer to this problem: a public directory of verified Nigerian private schools, searchable by location, stage, and facilities, with direct enquiry built in. Every school on the Terma platform is automatically listed on SchoolCity the day they go live. The listing shows the school's verified name, address, stage, and the features they offer — CBT, digital homework, parent portal, guidance counselling. Parents searching for a school in Lekki, or a secondary school with a CBT programme, can filter and find exactly that. For schools, the SchoolCity listing is the first piece of digital marketing infrastructure they have ever had that works without any effort. There is no form to fill, no agency to hire, no website to maintain. The profile is generated from the school's Terma data and kept current automatically. Enquiries from parents on SchoolCity feed directly into the admin portal as a managed pipeline. An admin can see every enquiry, respond within the platform, and track each enquiry from initial contact to enrolment. No call logs, no notebook — a structured workflow that converts more enquiries into students. For Pro plan schools, SchoolCity offers a featured slot on the homepage — higher visibility with parents who are actively searching, not just browsing. SchoolCity is not a separate product. It is what happens when a school's data, already in Terma, is made visible to the right people at the right time.