AKA Dhaka students step into the exciting realm of service learning

Freshly mixed vegetable salad by the Grade 7 students.

Grade 6 and 7 students at the Aga Khan Academy Dhaka participated in a service learning activity as part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP).  

Service learning encourages students to apply their knowledge to meaningful service activities for their community. Students identify local or global issues, develop action plans and actively contribute to solutions. Moreover, they foster a sense of responsibility and become internationally minded. 

In this activity, the Grade 7 students learnt how to grow vegetables such as cucumber, radish, carrot and cabbage themselves while the Grade 6 students made lemonade to demonstrate their understanding of mathematical proportions. Grade 6 students worked at their homes and earned money for materials for lemonade. Students from both grades then served their products to the Academy’s support staff.  

Grade 7 students farms organic vegetables at the Academy.

To produce the vegetables, Grade 7 students conducted rigorous research on the types of soils and suitable plants for the season. After assessing their time and access to resources, they proposed a plan requiring them to work in five groups with five members. Each group had the task of growing one specific vegetable in 15 weeks while taking turns to water the plant, measure growth and care for the weeds. The students used their knowledge from the classroom and applied it to the fields while working with their respective teams.  

"That’s why our tomato plant is bending weirdly!” said Rayed Ahsan, a Grade 7 student who expressed his experience when he learnt in his integrated science class that plants are phototrophic – the way plants bend in the direction of light. “We kept it under a shade! We need to move it directly under sunlight to grow properly!”  

An academic support staff holding vegetables freshly grown by the Grade 7 students.

The Grade 6 students also engaged in their inaugural service activity, integrating the concept of ratio and proportion from their current mathematics unit to recreate a lemonade recipe.  

Grade 6 students preparing lemonades to serve the academic support staff

Initially, grasping the entire service learning process posed a challenge for the students. However, the thrill of conducting their first service action from the mathematics unit infused them with excitement. 

Support staff having lemonade served by the Grade 6 students.

“Preparing and serving lemonade to the support staff was genuinely enjoyable,” said Sammara Nanjiba, a Grade 6 student. "This service as an action honed my collaborative skills with peers and demonstrated how mathematical concepts like ratio and proportion can be applied in real-life situations. Initially, I found tasks like lemon-cutting and mathematical calculations daunting. Yet, with the collaboration of my team members and the guidance of our maths teacher Ms Tabassum, I overcame these challenges."