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Student Exchange 2019

 
29 September 2019
This week we will hear from Isbah and Rayyan in Mombasa, who recount how the Garba night made them feel right at home, whilst learning about different elements of their own culture. We also hear from from Mwanapwani and Gakenia in Hyderabad, who took part in a sports competition against a local school.
 
23 September 2019
In this week's exchange student blog, we hear from Hotep and Shafyna in Hyderabad, who have been particularly fascinated by the natural environment within the AKA Hyderabad campus. In Mombasa, we hear from Ashrith and Sujith, as they share their thoughts on how they enjoyed the enrichment programmes available at their new campus in Mombasa.
 
15 September 2019
Students have already completed the first week of the Exchange Programme at the Aga Khan Academies in Mombasa and Hyderabad. Elizabeth MacFarlane, International Exchange Manager, shares her thoughts on the first week
07 September 2019

Join our students on their exhange journey by taking a look at our first photo gallery.

05 September 2019
The AKA Student Exchange 2019 is fully underway! Over the next three months, 35 students from our Academies in Mombasa and Hyderabad will ‘exchange’ places, beginning a journey of self-disovery in a new environment. Learn more about how the students' expedition commenced.
 

Community Service

Community service is an overarching and major facet of student education and experience at the Academies. Incorporated into student life and the curriculum, community service extends the educational experience beyond the classroom, informing students of the real-world implications of their studies. Through community projects with local organisations and groups, students gain a sense of the interconnectedness of their education with the world around them.

Students can participate in a variety of structured community initiatives and internships to learn about their place in the world.

By partnering with local Aga Khan Development Network agencies, students learn first-hand about the operations of an organisation and work towards making tangible contributions to the agencies.

In addition, community engagement provides an understanding of broad concepts such as human rights, dignity and autonomy, while emphasising the ethos of leaving the world a better place.

Examples of service projects from the Aga Khan Academy Mombasa:

Coast Rural Support Programme: Tree planting at Mtaa community reservoir. The reservoir was created as a community project. The outreach project involved planting 700 indigenous seedlings around the reservoir.

East African Quality in Early Learning: Creation of the Fun Reading Day initiative to promote early grade reading. Inspired by the common 1:10 ratio of students to books in local public primary schools, the first project was to collect books to establish a library at Ng’ombeni Primary School. Through a book drive and other community projects, students collected books and catalogued and prepared them for library use.

Our Junior School and Diploma Programme (DP) students visited the Ng’ombeni Primary School for group reading sessions. This project was then handed over to upcoming DP students to continue.

Education for Marginalised Children in Kenya (EMACK): Student’s council training workshop at Longo Primary School. Sarrah Sheikh came to know the Longo Primary School through her summer placement service. She went on to assist EMACK in establishing student leadership bodies, beginning with Longo Primary School. Topics covered went from effective leadership to communication tools, and the difference between prefects and elected student leaders. Three weeks after this project, the Kenyan government announced the phasing out of the prefect system and the introduction of elected student councils.

Madrasa Resource Centre: School painting project at Mpirani Nursery School. After visiting a school in disrepair, the DP students decided that a bright place was needed for the students to learn. They mobilised their fellow students to create bright learning materials and to repaint the school.

Syeda Sayema Mayesha – tackling global issues through film

Watch Sayema's film "One Sky, Two Souls" below.

Sayema, currently in grade 11, directed and produced an impactful short film to create awareness on child rights for her IB MYP Personal Project towards the end of her IB Middle Years Programme journey. The film was screened in February 2017 at the Academy’s annual ‘innovation expo’.

What caused her to pursue this particular project? “I was inspired to make this film as I have often observed how privileged children do not appreciate what they have, whereas the ones who suffer continue to do so as they are neglected,” Sayema explains. “As a student of the Academy, where children are given the opportunity of holistic education regardless of their financial background, I could not have worked on a better project.”

Sayema is from Bangladesh and studied at the Aga Khan School in Dhaka before joining the Hyderabad Academy in 2014. Her favourite subject is I&S (Individuals and Societies), particularly Economics, because she loves how it engages students and sharpens their perception about the real world. “15 years from now, I see myself completing my higher studies in International Relations and working as a Public Relations Executive. The Academy has influenced this career choice as it has broadened my knowledge and perspective about the world making me enthusiastic to be a leader and play a part in constructive change.”

Soccer is a passion for Sayema, and she has been part of the Academy Senior School girls’ soccer team from the beginning. “It has been a splendid experience for me to play home ground tournaments as well as outside tournaments and win the first ever trophy for the team in Kerala.” Another momentous occasion for her was when she won the ‘Best Delegate Award’ at her first ever Academy Model United Nations in 2015. She is now a passionate MUN participant.

Her knowledge of global issues and her desire to contribute to social change is evident through the film that she made, discussing child rights through the angle of education and labour. “Ensuring child rights today will ensure a brighter future for all tomorrow. The entire process has taught me many aspects of filmmaking. It has taught me to become a leader while working with a team. I have learnt how to deliver stories to the world through my own lens.”

Watch Sayema's film: 

Kamini Menon – communications for change

“I have always been inspired by the philosophy and implementing agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network, and it brings me great joy to have found a way to realise that career aspiration."
 

Kamini Menon joined the Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad in August 2016 as its Communications Specialist, but her engagement with its educational vision had started long before – as a grade 5 student at the Aga Khan primary school in Kampala, Uganda. That was where she discovered talents in table tennis and athletics, became a class prefect and initiated cleaning campaigns to keep the buildings litter-free. “It’s interesting that I can draw parallels between that childhood experience and the Academy in Hyderabad – with its focus on holistic learning, opportunities to learn new sports and inculcating in its students an awareness about the environment,” she noted.

Kamini grew up primarily in Kenya and Uganda, and completed her undergraduate degree in journalism from an American university in Nairobi. While she was studying, she gained valuable work experience at various places including the PR department of the Kenya Wildlife Service, a South African magazine company, and a recreational space called the Village Market. She then pursued her Master’s in Global Communications from the American University of Paris in France with a focus on video and communications for the development sector. Since then, Kamini has worked in Morocco, Afghanistan and across India for various non-profits and has built her portfolio of skills to include content creation, photography, video production, branding, design, public relations, training and strategic communications.

What drew her to the Academy? “I have always been inspired by the philosophy and implementing agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network, and it brings me great joy to have found a way to realise that career aspiration. Being a part of the Academy resonates with the transformative educational models I experienced as a ‘plus two’ student at Rishi Valley. I see a lot of commonalities in purpose, and I feel at home here because of that. Furthermore, the students here are encouraged to demonstrate values of pluralism, ethics, global citizenship and service, and these values resonate with me as a person.”

Kamini first came to the Academy as a volunteer during the first kite festival in 2016, while on vacation from Kabul where she was working with a technology media start-up. “As I had never worked in a school before, it has been challenging and rewarding to adapt my existing skill-set to a new and dynamic environment. Schools are exciting places to work, as they are spaces of learning and have so much going on at any one point in time.”

While here, she has been instrumental in setting up a weekly global cinema club for residential students and a journalism club that has grown over the last six months to a committed group of about 15 students. Being able to interact with students and contribute to the cultivation of writing and reporting skills amongst them, she says, has been truly satisfying. “My role encompasses a broad and exciting spectrum of responsibility. I work closely with the senior leadership team, as well as faculty and students, and this integral element of collaboration makes the job that much more fulfilling.”

The Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad

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The Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad brochure 2018
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Thursday, November 22, 2018

The Siasat Daily - Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad Ranked Sixth Best Day-Cum-Boarding School in India

The Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad has been ranked as the sixth best day-cum-boarding international school in India by the leading education publication Education World (EW) and best school in Hyderabad in the same category.

Thursday, September 25, 2014
The Siasat Daily

The Times of India: Aga Khan Academy gets going in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: The Aga Khan Academy, a state of the art international school belonging to the Aga Khan network of institutions was formally inaugurated in presence of spiritual leader Aga Khan in an elaborate ceremony on the academy premises in Shamshabad on Friday.

Saturday, September 21, 2013
The Times of India

The Indian Express: Aga Khan Academy opens in Hyderabad

The Indian Express gives us a brief review of the official inauguration of The Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad, an important event which included the presence of His Highness the Aga Khan as well as the Honourable Chief Minister N Kiram Kumar Reddu and the Honourable Union HRD Minister M M Pallam Raju.

Saturday, September 21, 2013
The Indian Express

Welcome to the Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad

The Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad has been awarded IB status by the International Baccalaureate

Multimedia

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A better world through education: The Aga Khan Academies

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Recent News

29 October 2024

Meet the Aga Khan Academy Dhaka's newly elected Student Council and what they have been up to so far.

20 September 2024

Recently, Ayesha Mehjabeen Rahgir, a Grade 10 student at the Academy visited the US to take part in the Exeter Summer programme at the Philips Exeter Academy.

18 September 2024

 

Jagran Josh: The Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad Officially Inaugurated By the AP Chief Minister

Jagran Josh reports on the inauguration of The Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad, performed by the Honourable Chief Minister of Andra Pradesh.  They provide an overview of the Academy, notably, how it is part of a network of 18 schools whose aim is to offer education of excellence to talented children regardless of financial capability.

Saturday, September 21, 2013
Jagran Josh

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