The Aga Khan Academies are a network of residential schools in Africa, South and Central Asia and the Middle East. Founded by His Highness the Aga Khan, the academies are part of the Aga Khan Development Network.
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Aga Khan Academies in operation:
Academies under development:
The Aga Khan Academies are a network of residential schools for talented students spanning from Africa and the Middle East, to South and Central Asia.[2] Their mandate is “expanding access to education of an international standard of excellence” for pre-primary to secondary school students.[3] The academies form part of an educational network organized by the Aga Khan Education Services (AKES), an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) founded by His Highness the Aga Khan. The commitment to education and learning by the Aga Khan and his grandfather have found expression in many forms — one of which is the Aga Khan Academies, of which nineteen are functional or under development.
The first academy opened its doors in Mombasa, Kenya, in August 2003.[4] As of July 2007, two academies were in operation, one in Mombasa and the other in Nairobi, Kenya.[5] In June 2004, March 2005, and September 2006 there were foundation-stone laying ceremonies in Maputo, Mozambique;[6] Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;[7] and Hyderabad, India[8] respectively to commemorate the building of new academies. The network will extend to South and Central Asia and eventually to Salamiyya and Damascus, in Syria. Planning has begun for an academy in Dhaka, Bangladesh [9] and the municipality of Amadora in Portugal [1] while many others are being planned — from Bamako in Mali, West Africa to Kabul in Afghanistan. It is envisioned that by 2016, the first ten academies will be in operation.[10]
The Aga Khan Academies have adopted the International Baccalaureate (IB)[11] programme curriculum because of its multifaceted educational approach and its recognition by leading universities around the world.[2] The curriculum is divided into the Primary Years Programme (ages 3–11), the Middle Years Programme (ages 11–16), and the Diploma Programme (ages 16–19).[12] The academies offer an emphasis on the humanities, with languages in particular; every student must acquire proficiency in a foreign language other than English, which is the language of instruction.[13] Students are given an opportunity to explore the arts: music, visual arts and dance, philosophy, foreign cultures and comparative religion. This is coupled with the general sciences, social sciences, economics, history, and literature as well as computer and information technologies.
Extracurricular activities include clubs and sports. They are required to contribute to the community as part of their extracurricular activities[2] and as the IB Programme stipulates.[14] An example of a community-oriented initiative in which the students partook was ‘World Animal Week’ sponsored by the World Society for the Protection of Animals in March, 2006 at the Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa.[15]
With the expansion of the Academy network, it will be possible for teachers and students to go on exchanges with their counterparts in foreign countries.[2] This is due in part to the standardised use of the IB curriculum; all schools teach the same course subject material. Therefore, students will be able to continue their studies abroad without compromising the content of their education.
Each academy will enroll approximately 700 to 1,200 young men and women. Admission to the academies is based on merit and is needs-blind: selection is not based on the students' ability to pay but on the personal strengths of the individual who has applied.[16] Students will be actively recruited as “matriculation for these schools must go beyond passive selection and include an active outreach effort.”[17]
Faculty must have a Bachelor’s degree and five years of teaching experience.[2] Recruited faculty members are given the option to improve their skills through the Professional Development Centres (PDC) which will be located at each academy.[2] The PDCs will offer courses in pedagogy that will not only be offered to teachers of the academy but also to the faculty of other private and public schools.[2] Teachers will be expected to participate in international exchanges with other academies. The exchanges will also give teachers an opportunity to internalise and "foster cross-cultural understanding,"[5] as this is an important aspect of the Aga Khan Academies.
“Each campus is to be designed by renowned architects”[5] and is equipped with facilities such as theatres, libraries, laboratories, and cafeterias.
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 parcel of land[5] whereas the academy underway in Hyderabad will have a 40 hectare plot. The Hyderabad Academy campus is being designed by India’s HCP Design and Project and Management Private Limited under the directorship of Bimal Patel.[18]
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).[19] 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 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.[2]
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.[2] 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.[20]