Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa, Kenya

Promoted by the Aga Khan Network Development Foundation, AKA-M is the pilot project of a needs-blind network of 18 academies in 14 countries of Africa and Asia

On a seven hectare site overlooking the blue waters of the Indian Ocean in the unlikely environment of the ancient city of Mombasa (pop.939,370), Kenya, a K-12 school of great pith and moment — constructed as a model for 18 similar institutions in 14 countries around the world including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Syria, Mozambique, Tanzania and Mali — has become fully operational. Currently the state-of-the-art co-ed Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa (AKA-M, estb.2003) has an aggregate enrolment of 650 students, and is a fully-fledged IB (International Baccalaureate) World School with an installed capacity of 800 students.

Promoted by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) Foundation which has academic collaborations with several blue-chip education institutions worldwide (including Harvard University, MIT, University of Texas at Austin, Oxford University, Philips Academy Andover, University of Toronto and Aga Khan University), AKA-M  is the pilot project of a needs-blind network of academies in Africa and Asia which will admit children of all socio-economic backgrounds and ethnicities to fully  develop their academic abilities and potential for leadership.

The development objectives, culture and ethos of AKA-M is of special interest to parents and the academic community in India, because the second school of the envisaged Aga Khan network of academies is nearing completion on a 100-acre campus in Hyderabad, and admitted its first batch of primary students in August last year. “The underlying idea of the Aga Khan Academies is to concentrate substantial resources on exceptional individuals — students and teachers — who have the potential to transform society,” says Salim Bhatia, the Paris-based director of the Aga Khan Academies Network.

Quite clearly no expense has been spared nor corners cut to design and construct the 18.5 acre campus of the model AKA-M, characterised by local Arabic-African architecture and open landscaping. Facilities include 37 fully-wired classrooms (maximum strength 20-25 students), eight science and biology labs, three computer labs with 25 terminals each, and senior and junior school libraries with an aggregate 15,300 volumes and over 30 journal and elect-ronic subscriptions.

Other infrastructure resources include modern, on-site residential accommo-dation for 284 boarders; a massive dining-cum-convention hall with seating capacity for over 600 students and teachers simultaneously; a 7,560 sq. ft multi-purpose hall; an open-air amphi-theatre, and a fully-equipped professi-onal development centre for in-house teacher training and development.  Sports facilities include an astro-turf ground for field hockey, and facilities for cricket, tennis, football, basketball, badminton, athletics and a six-lane swimming pool.

“As conceptualised by his highness the Aga Khan, AKA-M is no ordinary school. It is a carefully designed institution which also serves as a test bed and model for the other 17 academies in 14 countries. All these academies will have a dual mission: to provide world-class educational oppor-tunities to exceptional students from diverse backgrounds and to model and disseminate highly effective educational practices. Therefore we select students of good character and serious intent regardless of their families’ ability to pay our prescribed tuition and other fees. Likewise educators and teachers are selected on the basis of their commit-ment to the all-round development of students and their own continued professional growth. Our broader objective is to change society through education,” says Rob Burrough, a zoology and education alumnus of Canterbury University, New Zealand who was appointed the third head-master of AKA-M in May 2010.

The meticulous planning and strident non-denominational and multi-racial character of AKA-M, which will serve as the blueprint for 18 Aga Khan academies in 14 countries, is entirely in character with the activities of the Aga Khan Development Network (estb.1967), designed by His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan, Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, the 49th hereditary Imam and a direct descendant of Prophet Muhammad. Currently the small (15 million), entrepreneurial and close-knit Ismaili Muslim community is scattered across 25 countries including India, Pakistan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Canada and the US.

Under the sagacious leadership of  Prince Karim Aga Khan who succeeded his grandfather as Imam in 1957, the community has earned itself an excellent reputation for its enterprise, business success and promotion of healthcare, education and social welfare institutions for people of all ethnicities and religious creeds.

In particular in the nation states of East Africa (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania), AKDN has promoted a large network of socio-economic and cultural development institutions (Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, Aga Khan Foundation, Aga Khan Univ-ersity, University of Central Asia, Aga Khan Health Services, Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Aga Khan Award for Architecture etc).

With AKA-M having successfully graduated over 134 IB diploma school-leavers who have gained admission in top-ranked British and American universities, Burrough is confident of maintaining the momentum. “I am sure our students will proceed to build on the high quality education they have received here and return to become leaders to their own communities. Once the other academies are up and running, there will be active student and teacher exchange programmes. Cross-fertilis-ation of ideas, pedagogies and profess-ional development programmes will enable our students to acquire the global outlook and perspectives required for success in the new global world order,” predicts Burrough.

Slowly but surely in the unlikely environment of Mombasa, Kenya, a new model of needs-blind, networked, multinational K-12 education is acquiring  shape and form with momentous implications for the future of school education in the 21st century.

Dilip Thakore (Mombasa)