East Africa
AKES schools are the bedrock
of AKDN's work in education in Kenya, Tanzania and
Uganda. Some of the schools date from the turn of last
century; many were established in the 1950s and 1960s.
In all three countries, AKES operates as a not-for-profit
agency and the services it provides are often subsidised.
AKES works through national service companies in each
of the East African countries and cooperates with government
agencies, non-governmental organisations, and national
and international universities.
Cooperating with these
partners enables AKES to participate in current educational
issues, and in so doing, to assess continually and,
where necessary, adapt to changing trends in education.
AKES in East Africa also benefits from its association
with AKES country networks in South and Central Asia.
Models of education that have proved successful in
one region are modified and replicated in other regions,
thus creating a unique educational system based on
universally shared expertise. Currently, AKES operates
some 19 schools of high quality in East Africa, catering
to some 9,100 students and employing about 600 teachers.
South Asia
Several of the
academic institutions of AKES in India, Pakistan
and Bangladesh date back to the 19th Century. A major
initiative was taken to establish schools during the
diamond jubilee of Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga
Khan,
notably for girls in the Northern Areas of Pakistan
and in Mumbai, India. There are 275 schools in South
Asia of which 189 are in Pakistan, 82 in India and
four in Bangladesh. These schools have an enrolment
of about 48,000 students and employ some 2,200 teachers.
Through their outreach activities, the AKES of these
countries support a further 96,300 students.
A significant
proportion of students impacted by AKES in this region
is from the rural areas. A great majority of them
are females. Strong efforts are made not only to continue
to improve the quality of education in some of the
remotest parts of the world, but also to develop
curricula that are compatible with the needs of the
rural communities.
Central Asia
AKES operates
two model schools in the region, one in Khorog, the
capital of Gorno-Badakhshan in Tajikistan, and the
other in Osh in the neighbouring Kyrgyz Republic.
These schools serve as regional centres of excellence.
AKES' outreach efforts also impact the district schools
within Gorno-Badakhshan, and plans are being developed
to help schools within the southern areas of Kyrgyz
Republic.
A more recent development
is AKES' involvement in Afghanistan. Currently, it
works in selected districts, including Kabul, to develop
skills in English Language and Information Technology,
especially for out-of-school children to develop employable
skills. It also assists school-going children with
tutorial assistance programmes to enable them to catch
up with normal school work at different grade levels.
