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In Pakistan, 35% of girls are out of schools and 66% of women aged above 15 years are not able to read and write. AKDN is working with partners to build schools, train teachers and coordinate with government to improve the national curriculum to ensure many more girls have access to a quality education throughout the country. Today, the education activities of AKDN extend from early childhood development to operating the country's leading medical university.
AKDN
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In Mozambique, the first phase of the Aga Khan Academy, Maputo opened on 19 August 2013. The Aga Khan Academy, Maputo expects to have 750 students in 2020. The aim of the Aga Khan Academies is to develop future leaders with the skills and knowledge to support positive development in their societies. The Academies achieve this by recruiting exceptional young people from all backgrounds and providing them with the highest international standard of education. Admission is means-blind and based on merit. Financial aid is available to ensure access for accepted students regardless of financial circumstances. Read more at www.akdn.org/academies
AKDN
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A study by Dr Frances Aboud of McGill University showed the tremendous difference that community Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes can make in children’s lives, even in the most remote settings, such as Bamyan, Afghanistan.
AKF / Andrew Quilty
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In India, the first Aga Khan School was founded in Mundra (Gujarat) in 1905. Since then, the number of schools and other education institutions run by AKDN agencies has risen to over 80. The Aga Khan Academies (AKA), Aga Khan Education Services (AKES) and the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) are the principal AKDN agencies working in education in India. Photo: Learning centre in Danapur, Patna, Bihar, India.
AKDN / Christopher Wilton-Steer
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The Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa, Kenya. The aim of the Aga Khan Academies is to develop future leaders with the skills and knowledge to support positive development in their societies. The Academies achieve this by recruiting exceptional young people from all backgrounds and providing them with the highest international standard of education. Admission is based on merit. Financial aid is available to ensure access for accepted students regardless of financial circumstances. Read more at www.akdn.org/academies
AKDN / Gary Otte
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On 5 September 2016, classes began for the first undergraduates at the University of Central Asia’s inaugural Naryn Campus, Kyrgyz Republic. The University of Central Asia (UCA) is opening campuses at high altitude sites in Naryn, Kyrgyz Republic (2016) and Khorog, Tajikistan (2017), and is preparing for construction in Tekeli, Kazakhstan.
UCA
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In London, the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (ISMC) seeks to provide a multifaceted approach to the study of Muslim peoples through a framework of world cultures, the humanities and social sciences. This approach is reflected in a master’s programme, events and short courses and through research and publications.
AKDN
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In Afghanistan, since 2013, Steps Towards Afghan Girls' Education Success (STAGES) has reached more than 350,000 people across 15 Afghan provinces, including 6,000 teachers, 100,000 community members, 110,000 boys, 135,000 girls.
AKF / Andrew Quilty
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In Portugal, K’Cidade, AKF’s urban community support programme, brings together people from different backgrounds and ages by involving them in community improvement and development activities.
AKDN / Lucas Cuervo Moura
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Naswan School for Girls in Shughnan, Badakhshan, Afghanistan. In some of the country's most remote provinces, AKDN has helped 135,000 girls gain access to school. From 2009 to 2015, the schools reported not only increases in girls’ enrollment, but also a 19-fold increase in girls graduating from high school.
AKF / Andrew Quilty
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In Kyrgyz Republic, the introduction of shift systems, satellite kindergartens, and jailoo (pasture) kindergartens by the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) has increased access to Early Childhood Development (ECD) in Osh and Naryn districts to 17% percent above the national average.
AKDN
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Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes in India - The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) focuses on using locally relevant curricula, experimenting with different types of training and support for parents, caregivers and pre-school teachers, and identifying successful and sustainable ways of mobilising and involving communities. Special emphasis is placed on ensuring programmes reach girls and other marginalised groups.
AKDN / Mansi Midha
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In 2009, AKDN started a five-year effort to encourage girls' education in over 200 schools in three provinces in Afghanistan with support from @gacanada.amcanada. This meant overcoming barriers such as poor learning conditions, lack of female teachers, mobility restrictions and more. In the first year of the program, 225 girls graduated from 192 supported schools. In the final year of the program, 2,313 girls graduated from 216 schools. Today, with the support of the Department for International Development (DFID-UK) and what we learnt from 2009, AKDN is helping remove more barriers to girls' education. We have developed five key steps towards Afghan girls' education success, involving more communities in the education of their girls and opening schools nearby. These steps have resulted in greater education opportunities for 100,000s of girls.
AKF / Andrew Quilty
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Early childhood development (ECD) centre, Kom Ombo, Egypt. The ECD programme in Egypt has, to date, benefited over 8,000 children, 650 mothers and 500 teachers through its activities. The programme has improved the accessibility rate to safe preschools in Aswan from 22% in 2005 to 56% in 2015.
AKDN / Christopher Wilton-Steer
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Students of the Aga Khan Education Service (AKES), Pakistan. There are now 189 AKES schools in South Asia of which 161 are in Pakistan, 27 are in India and one in Bangladesh. These schools have an enrolment of over 46,000 students and employ some 2,000 teachers. A significant proportion of students impacted by AKES in this region are from rural areas, with an equal proportion of males and females.
AKDN / Noor Fareed
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Aga Khan High School, Kampala, Uganda. Aga Khan Education Service, Uganda (AKES,U) operates two nursery schools and two private co-educational day schools. These schools help diminish the many obstacles to educational access and opportunity by offering high quality value for money education geared to develop inquisitive learners and the country’s future leaders and job creators.
AKDN / Lucas Cuervo Moura
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Students in Lecture Hall, Aga Khan University Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan. Medical graduates include international leaders such as Dr. Anita Zaidi, who won the US$ 1 million Caplow Children’s Prize in 2013 with her plan to save children’s lives in a marginalized community in Karachi. Forty-nine percent of all physicians educated at AKU are women.
AKU / Kohi Marri
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School of Nursing and Midwifery, Kampala, Uganda. A recognised leader in the field of nursing education in the developing world, the Aga Khan University (AKU) has recorded numerous firsts in the course of educating nearly 6,000 nursing leaders in Pakistan and East Africa.
AKDN / Christopher Wilton-Steer
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Sustainable Development Goals - Gender equality
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Educating girls - If girls in remote places around the world are provided with access to education close to their homes, and in a context which recognises community values and concerns, they are more likely to go to school, stay in school and learn. For example in Afghanistan, AKDN is employing this community- based approach to help tens of thousands of girls to gain access to quality education across 15 provinces. Images included in this gallery are representative of some programs taking place around the world.
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15 October 2020