Aga Khan Academies

Last updated
Aga Khan Academies (logo).png

The Aga Khan Academies is an initiative of the Aga Khan Development Network. When fully operational, the Aga Khan Academies network will consist of eighteen co-educational, K-12, non-denominational day and residential schools in fourteen countries in Africa, South and Central Asia, and the Middle East. [1] The academic program is based on the internationally recognized International Baccalaureate curriculum.

Contents

The Academies network will eventually serve approximately 14,000 students, graduating approximately 1,000 students annually.

Overview

The Aga Khan Academies, a network of day and residential K-12 schools, is one of the education agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network. The AKDN operates a number of education programs and institutions spanning from early childhood to university degrees and continuing professional development. Under this umbrella, the specific focus of the Aga Khan Academies is on leadership development for its students.

Each Academy also includes a Professional Development Centre that provides outreach professional development programs for teachers and school leaders from government and other nonprofit schools. [2]

The Aga Khan Academies are being established in fourteen countries across Africa, South and Central Asia, and the Middle East. Four Academies are currently operating in Dhaka, [3] Mombasa, Hyderabad, and Maputo. The next Academies include Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The network of Academies will eventually include eighteen schools with a student enrollment of approximately 14,000 girls and boys, and more than 1,000 graduates annually.

History

His Highness the Aga Khan, the Chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network, founded the Aga Khan Academies as one of the AKDN's agencies in 2000.

In 2003, the first Aga Khan Academy opened in Mombasa, Kenya on an eighteen-acre site in the Kizingo area. The Academy started as a day school, with the residential program beginning in 2009. Since May 11, 2005, the Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa has been recognized as an International Baccalaureate World School when its Diploma Programme was accredited. The Middle Years Programme and Primary Years Programme were accredited by the IB in 2009 and 2007, respectively. [4]

In 2006, construction began on the second Aga Khan Academy in Hyderabad, India on a 100-acre site gifted by the State Government near the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. [5] The Academy's Junior School opened in August 2011. The Senior School and the residential program for senior students opened in 2012, with the first class graduating in 2014. Since September 6, 2012, the Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad has been designated as an International Baccalaureate World School when the Diploma Programme was accredited. The Middle Years Programme and the Primary Years Programme were authorised in 2014. [6]

The third Aga Khan Academy opened in Maputo, Mozambique in 2013 with the lower grades of the Junior School. The full Academy is being constructed on a site of approximately fifty-four acres, about twenty kilometers from Maputo's city center. The Aga Khan Academy, Maputo, Mozambique is currently an International Baccalaureate candidate school for the Primary Years Programme.

In 2014, the Microsoft Corporation recognized the Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa as a Showcase School, a designation given to 150 schools worldwide. The Academy is the only Showcase School in East Africa and one of two schools in Sub-Saharan Africa. [7]

In 2014, Education World ranked the Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad as the sixth best international day-cum-boarding school in India and the best in Hyderabad. [8]

Facilities and architecture

The Aga Khan Academies campuses are purpose built and designed to include core buildings and facilities that are common across all the schools. However, the specific topography of each site, as well as the local culture and architectural idioms, influence the design of each Academy, resulting in significant differences among the Academy campuses.

“Each campus is to be designed by renowned architects” [9] and is equipped with facilities such as theatres, libraries, laboratories, and cafeterias.

In addition to academic learning spaces such as classrooms, laboratories and libraries, each campus includes facilities such as a swimming pool, music and art rooms, a field for outdoor games and a gymnasium for indoor sports. Campuses may also include tennis courts, cricket pitches, and ice-skating rinks. The residential facilities accommodate boarding and dorm parents, who are teachers who live on campus. All residences include a student lounge, study areas and a laundry facility. [1]

The size of the campus will vary from one academy to another. For example, the Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa, Kenya, inspired by Swahili architecture, rests on a 7.3-hectare (18-acre) parcel of land, [9] whereas the academy in Hyderabad is on a 40-hectare (99-acre) plot. The Hyderabad Academy campus has been designed by India's HCP Design and Project and Management Private Limited under the directorship of Bimal Patel. [10]

The campuses and accreditation

Education at the Aga Khan Academies is based on the International Baccalaureate programme. It consists of three levels of study during the K-12 school years:

  1. The Primary Years Programme for ages 3–12
  2. The Middle Years Programme for ages 11–16
  3. The Diploma Programme for ages 16–19

Each Aga Khan Academy is authorised by the International Baccalaureate to offer the programmes.

Each Aga Khan Academy also offers a dual language program in English and the local language. Admission entry points for day and boarding school students exist at the Primary Years Programme, Middle Years and Diploma Programme levels. The Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa and the Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad are boarding schools for Middle Years and Diploma Programme students. The residential facilities accommodate students and teachers.

List of academies

Operational Academies

Future Aga Khan Academies

Curriculum

The curriculum at the Aga Khan Academies teaches the core subject requirements required by the International Baccalaureate program. Student scores on exams have exceeded the annual average IB scores. [12]

The Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa and the Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad offer the following IB courses in the Diploma Programme:

Extracurricular activities include clubs and sports. They are required to contribute to the community as part of their extracurricular activities [1] and as the IB Programme stipulates. [13]

Admissions

Each academy will enroll approximately 700 to 1,200 young men and women. The academy seeks students from pre-primary through higher secondary levels representing a diverse range of economic, cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds. Students should have the ability and motivation to excel academically and should demonstrate leadership in community service and other co-curricular pursuits.[ citation needed ]

Admission is means-blind and competitive, based on student merit. The academy endeavours to meet the demonstrated financial need of each admitted student.

Partnerships

In addition to belonging to the Aga Khan Development Network and working with the Aga Khan Education Services, the academies are part of the International Academic Partnership (IAP). [14] The IAP is an international joint venture that was conceived in 1990 and came into being in 1993. It includes such institutions as Phillips Academy in Andover, USA, Schule Schloss in Salem, Germany and the Institute for Educational Development - Pakistan and Tanzania, East Africa. at the Aga Khan University. The partnership has brought together over 400 schools from South Asia, East Africa and the United States, and over 500 teachers. [1]

The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Central Asia, the Aga Khan University, the University of Calgary, the University of Toronto, and Oxford University are providing resources to the academies and their development. [1] Other partnerships are national governments such as that of India which donated 40 hectares of land in the southern Andhra Pradesh state for the Hyderabad Academy. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aga Khan IV</span> 49th Imam of the Ismaili (born 1936)

Shah Karim al-Husayni (Arabic: شاه كريم الحسيني, romanized: Shāh Karīm al-Ḥusaynī; born 13 December 1936; known as Aga Khan IV is the 49th and current imam of Nizari Isma'ilis. He has held the position of Imam and the title of Aga Khan since 11 July 1957 when, at the age of 20, he succeeded his grandfather, Aga Khan III. The Aga Khan claims direct lineal descent from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, Ali, who is considered an Imam by Nizari Isma'ilis, and Ali's wife Fatima, Muhammad's daughter from his first marriage. Aga Khan IV is also known by the religious title Mawlānā Hazar Imam by his Isma'ili followers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aga Khan Award for Architecture</span> Architecture prize

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) is an architectural prize established by Aga Khan IV in 1977. It aims to identify and reward architectural concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of Muslim societies in the fields of contemporary design, social housing, community development and improvement, restoration, reuse and area conservation, as well as landscape design and improvement of the environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aga Khan Development Network</span> Network of development agencies founded by the Aga Khan

The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is a network of private, non-denominational development agencies founded by the Aga Khan, with the primary focus of improving the quality of life in different regions of Asia and Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aga Khan Foundation</span> Private international development agency

The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) is a private, not-for-profit international development agency, which was founded in 1967 by Shah Karim Al Hussaini, Aga Khan IV, the 49th Hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. AKF seeks to provide long-term solutions to problems of poverty, hunger, illiteracy and ill health in the poorest parts of South and Central Asia, Eastern and Western Africa, and the Middle East. In these regions, the needs of rural communities in mountainous, coastal and resource poor areas are given particular attention. The Foundation's activities often reinforce the work of other sister agencies within the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). While these agencies are guided by different mandates pertaining to their respective fields of expertise, their activities are often coordinated with one another in order to "multiply" the overall effect that the Network has in any given place or community. AKF also collaborates with local, national and international partners in order to bring about sustainable improvements of life in the 14 countries in which it implements programmes. The Foundation's head office is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aga Khan University</span> University in Karachi, Pakistan, with campuses in various countries

Aga Khan University is a not-for-profit institution and an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network. It was founded in 1983 as Pakistan's first private university. Starting in 2000, the university expanded to Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, the United Kingdom and Afghanistan.

Education in Kenya refers to the education system in Kenya. It is considered a basic right that should be offered to every individual. Education in Kenya predates to as early as the 18th century among the Swahili people. The earliest school was established by missionaries in Rabai. During the colonial era, the number of Kenyans with exposure to education steadily increased and a good number of them were privileged to proceed abroad for further education.

St Clare's is a coeducational private, international day and boarding college in North Oxford, England offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma, a Preparatory IB programme, English language courses, University Pathways, Gap Year study and IB teacher training workshops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aga Khan School, Dhaka</span> Private school in Uttara, Dhaka, Bangladesh

The Aga Khan School, Dhaka, is an English Medium School, in Uttara, Dhaka under the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and the Aga Khan Education Service, Bangladesh (AKES,B). It is one of the earliest private English Medium schools in Bangladesh founded in 1988, in a small campus in Siddeshwari, Dhaka.

Aga Khan School may refer to the following :

The Aga Khan Academy, Nairobi is a private, co-educational not-for-profit school situated in the Parklands neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya. The school was established in 1970. The academy became an IB World School on 12 November 1999.

The Aga Khan Junior Academy, Nairobi, is situated in the suburb of Parklands neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya.

The Aga Khan Health Services is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) that supports activities in the health field, and manages more than 200 health facilities, including a network of Aga Khan Hospitals.

Aga Khan Education Services (AKES) is one of the agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) supporting activities in the field of education. The others are the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), the Aga Khan University (AKU), the University of Central Asia (UCA), and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC).

The International School of Hyderabad(ISH) is a non-profit, English medium international school located in Hyderabad, capital city of Telangana, India. The school serves students from overseas and Indian students who plan to do their post-primary education overseas. The school is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) and the Council of International Schools (CIS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development</span> Swiss for-profit entity

Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development SA is a Swiss for-profit entity and international development finance institution which invests in countries of East Africa, West Africa, Central Asia, and South Asia. It is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad is an international school in Hyderabad, India. It is located near Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and also Pahadi Shareef.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Technical University of Mombasa</span> University in Kenya

Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) is a public university located in the coastal city of Mombasa. It is amongst the oldest institution of higher learning in Kenya. It is one of the National Polytechnics recently elevated to a fully fledged University in Kenya. It was awarded its charter in 2013 by-then president Mwai Kibaki.

Shamsh Kassim-Lakha' is a Pakistani businessman, politician, and educational leader. He led the planning, building, and operation of the University of Central Asia (UCA), a regional institution founded by the Presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and His Highness the Aga Khan with campuses in the mountain areas of the three countries. He was the Diplomatic Representative of the Aga Khan Development Network in the Kyrgyz Republic from 2014-2017. He is currently Senior Advisor, Aga Khan Foundation Canada, in which capacity he is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Central Asia and advises the Foundation on its work in Central and South Asia as well as Eastern Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Central Asia</span> A private, not-for-profit, secular university in Central Asia

The University of Central Asia (UCA) (Russian: Университет Центральной Азии) is a secular, non-profit, research university in Central Asia. It was founded by an international charter between the governments of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in partnership with the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in 2000. UCA's first undergraduate campus opened in 2016 in Naryn, Kyrgyzstan, and was followed by a second campus in Khorog, Tajikistan (2017). The University has three schools: School of Arts and Sciences (SAS), Graduate School of Development (GSD) and School of Professional and Continuing Education (SPCE). The School of Arts and Sciences offers four undergraduate programmes on its two campuses. A third campus in Tekeli, Kazakhstan is currently in the planning phase.

Indus Trust is a nonprofit educational trust that focuses on training research and allied activities for underprivileged communities in India.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Excellence in Education" (PDF). The Aga Khan Academies. 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2007. Retrieved 27 June 2007.
  2. ↑ "Speech: Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan at the Inauguration Ceremony of The Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad, India". Aga Khan Development Network. 2013. Archived from the original on 2015-08-15. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  3. ↑ "Welcome to the Aga Khan Academy Dhaka | Aga Khan Academies". www.agakhanacademies.org. Retrieved 2023-05-10.
  4. ↑ "Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa". International Baccalaureate. 2015. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  5. ↑ "Aga Khan Academy gets going in Hyderabad - The Times of India". The Times of India. 2013.
  6. ↑ "Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad". International Baccalaureate. 2015. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  7. ↑ "Connect with Schools Leaders". Microsoft. 2015. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  8. ↑ "International School Ranking 2014 across India". Education World. 2014. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-09-12.
  9. 1 2 "The Aga Khan Academy: Mombasa" (PDF). The Aga Khan Academies. 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
  10. ↑ HCP Design and Project and Management Private Limited. "Company Profile". Archived from the original on 2007-10-10. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
  11. ↑ Developer), Md Ashequl Morsalin Ibne Kamal(Team Leader)| Niloy Saha(Sr Web Developer)| Shohana Afroz(Web Developer)| Jobayer Hossain(Web. "Education remains a key area of interest for AKDN in Bangladesh: Merali". unb.com.bd. Retrieved 2022-08-21.
  12. ↑ "Expat guide to Kenya: schools" (pdf). Telegraph UK. 2011. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
  13. ↑ What we offer: Core requirements, 2005–2007, archived from the original on 21 June 2007, retrieved 28 June 2007
  14. ↑ "IAP Director's Report" (PDF). Phillip's Academy. 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
  15. ↑ "Aga Khan lays foundation stone for school in India", Agence France Presse, September 2006
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.