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).
In 1905, Aga Khan III started the Aga Khan School in Mundra, the first school what later became a large network of schools, AKES.
AKES currently operates more than 300 schools and advanced educational programmes that provide quality pre-school, primary, secondary, and higher secondary education services to more than 54,000 students in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Tajikistan. AKES is also developing new schools in Kyrgyzstan and Madagascar and studying the feasibility of services and facilities in Mozambique. [1] [2]
The existence of AKES in Pakistan dates back to the late 1940s, before the establishment of formal AKDN agencies. His Highness the Aga Khan's grandfather, Sir Sultan Mohamed Shah, created literacy centres for girls in remote villages situated in the Karakorum Mountains. Diamond Jubilee Schools for girls were established in Northern Pakistan and Chitral district in 1946 to commemorate Sir Sultan Mohamed Shah's sixty years as the spiritual leader of the Ismaili community.
The AKES has helped to provide easy access to education in remote areas of Pakistan, with special emphasis given to the education of girls in the northern areas. As of 2007, AKES operates 191 schools with 37,285 students enrolled. [3] It believes that all children should have access to good schools, teachers and learning resources. Most of the Aga Khan Schools in Pakistan provide pre-school, primary and secondary education.
AKES implements or funds education programmes aimed at improving access and quality of primary and secondary education. One of the programmes they have implemented is the Northern Pakistan Education Programme in 1997, a joint partnership between AKES and the European Commission. The programme had helped to increase accessibility of primary and secondary education by funding schools to help them increase their intake of students, with 60% of the new vacancies going to girls as instructed. [4] The programme ended in 2008, with 80% of the children in the region enrolled in primary schools and a significant number of them are girls. [5]
The program 'Releasing Confidence and Creativity (RCC): Building Sound Foundations for Early Learning in Pakistan', is being implemented in 100 government schools in Sindh and Balochistan, Pakistan. The programme focuses on early childhood development.
The programme aims to enhance the development of the staff and expansion of participation of parents and communities in their children's education. RCC also creates incentives and innovative models for investing in the school in order to improve the physical and learning environment. Lastly, it encourages community mobilisation and training to increase participation of parents, communities, NGOs and private sector in public schools.
According to an evaluation report done by USAID, children involved in RCC have expressed that they enjoyed the RCC programme. [6] Home visits under RCC helped reduce absenteeism and increase enrolment in schools. It was also reported that the programme has generally increased enrolment and children's interests in school. Data have also shown that 90% of children that have participated in RCC have gone on to grade one of elementary school. [7]
The early childhood education programme, available across the AKES network, emphasises "child initiated learning". Children are encouraged to plan and construct their own learning, thereby retaining their natural self-confidence.
There are more than 240 schools running under Aga Khan Education Services. These schools are located across the globe in following countries Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Uganda, Tanzania andTajikistan. [8] These schools include pre-primary, primary, secondary and higher secondary schools.
These schools have banner names of Diamond Jubilee schools, Aga Khan Schools and Aga Khan Higher Secondary Schools.
Prince Karim Al-Husseini, known as the Aga Khan IV since the death of his grandfather in 1957, 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.
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.
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.
The system of education in Uganda has a structure of 7 years of primary education, 6 years of secondary education, and 3 to 5 years of post-secondary education. Education in Uganda is administered in English. All throughout the levels in the education structure, modules are taught and assessed in English. The government of Uganda recognizes education as a basic human right and continues to strive to provide free primary education to all children in the country. However, issues with funding, teacher training, rural populations, and inadequate facilities continue to hinder the progress of educational development in Uganda. Girls in Uganda are disproportionately discriminated against in terms of education; they face harsher barriers when trying to gain an education and it has left the female population disenfranchised, despite government efforts to close the gap.
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.
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 institutionalised education system in Kenya, whereby pupils and students are taught in specific locations, following a particular curriculum. The institutionalised system differs from traditional education which had been in existence long before missionarisation and colonisation, and was administered according to the various indigenous groups' cultures and customs.
Prince Rahim Aga Khan is the second of the Aga Khan IV’s four children. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, he has been actively involved for many years in the governance of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).
Education in Mauritius is managed by the Ministry of Education & Human Resources, which controls the development and administration of state schools funded by government, but also has an advisory and supervisory role in respect of private schools. The Tertiary education is maintained by the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Science, Research and Technology. The government of Mauritius provides free education to its citizens from pre-primary to tertiary levels. Since July 2005, the government also introduced free transport for all students. Schooling is compulsory up to the age of 16. Mauritian students consistently rank top in the world each year for the Cambridge International O Level, International A and AS level examinations. Among sub-Saharan African countries, Mauritius has one of the highest literacy rates. The adult literacy rate was at 91.9% in 2022. According to the 2022 census, the proportion of people with higher education has increased to 8.8%. Mauritius was ranked 57th in the Global Innovation Index in 2023, 1st in Africa.
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.
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. The academic program is based on the internationally recognized International Baccalaureate curriculum.
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.
The Historic Cities Programme (HCP) of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) promotes the conservation and re-use of buildings and public spaces in historic cities of the Muslim world. HCP undertakes the restoration and rehabilitation of historic structures and public spaces in ways that can spur social, economic and cultural development. Individual projects go beyond technical restoration to address the questions of the social and environmental context, adaptive reuse, institutional sustainability and training. In several countries, local Aga Khan Cultural Service companies have been formed to implement projects under the supervision of the HCSP headquarters in Geneva.
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.
The Building and Construction Improvement Program(BACIP) is a program of the Aga Khan Planning and Building Service, Pakistan (AKPBS,P) that is engaged in developing and promoting solutions to housing and built environment-related issues of rural communities living in Gilgit-Baltistan and the province of Sindh.
Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad is an international school in Hyderabad, India. It is located near Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and also Pahadi Shareef.
The Platinum Jubilee High School (PJHS) is an English medium school in Warangal, Telangana, India. It is recognized by the Telangana State Education Department, and follows the State Education Board curriculum. The school has 1,500 students from pre-primary through Grade 10.
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.
The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) was established in 2016 and is part of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). It is an umbrella of AKDN agencies and programs that have provided aid and delivered training on habitat and disaster preparedness since the 1990s.
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