The Aga Khan Approach
The Aga Khan Higher Secondary School, Hunza strives to create a harmonious balance between academic demands, sporting and cultural activities and community life. It challenges its pupils to be intellectually inquisitive and socially conscious. The School believes that while what students know is important, the true measure of a student’s education is the ability to analyse what they do not know.

Developing critical thinking and analysis is therefore at the core of the School’s mission. It also encourages students to respect and appreciate other people’s cultures, social structures, values and beliefs. Taken together, these objectives are designed to help equip children with the tools they will need to make their way in school, society and an increasingly interdependent world.

School History
Established in 1986, the Aga Khan Higher Secondary School, Hunza (formerly known as the Aga Khan Academy, Hunza). The first residential school of its kind, it offers higher secondary education to female students from Northern Pakistan’s urban and remote areas. Initially a secondary school, the School extended itself to offer higher secondary education in 1998. The girls school provides Preparatory IX to Class XII education to college students in the Science disciplines.

Situated next to the School, its Hostel accommodates 81 girls from Northern Pakistan’s remote mountainous regions. Most residents would not normally have access to secondary and higher secondary education in their hometowns. The existing schools currently offer primary and middle level (Class 5 to 8) education requiring students to travel to another town on foot for higher education or others to eventually give up their studies.

The School provides them with quality education, self-awareness, spiritual enlightenment and a healthy lifestyle. Within the hostel, residents focus on intellectual, personal and spiritual development.

The School is part of the Aga Khan Education Services (AKES). It has a long tradition of leadership in educational development. The foundations of the present system were laid by Sir Sultan Mohamed Shah, Aga Khan III, under whose guidance over 200 schools were established during the first half of the 20th century, the first of them in 1905 in Zanzibar, Gwadur in Pakistan and Mundra in India. Since the creation of Aga Khan Education Service companies in the 1970s, the schools have been centrally administered and managed.

AKES currently operates more than 300 schools and advanced educational programmes that provide quality pre-school, primary, secondary and higher secondary education services to more than 54,000 students in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Uganda, Tanzania and Tajikistan. Schools are also envisaged, or under development, in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique and Syria.

School Population
The School has a student population of 200 girls from across the Northern Areas of Pakistan. The Principal, 14 teachers and 10 support staff manage the School.

School Building
His Highness Aga Khan laid the School’s foundation stone in 1983. Spread over 30,000 square feet, it has separate buildings for the school and Hostel. Designed by architects Didier Lefort, Luc Vaichere and Amir Ali Moolgi, the buildings are earthquake-proof with fixtures prefabricated locally using traditional methods.

Built around severe technical and climatic restrictions, the Academy displays local features. The roof is patterned similar to traditional Hunzai (Burusho) homes called “Mushkilaan”. Small windows inspired by homes in the area, are built to keep the building warm in the severe winter weather. With a natural mountainscape as its backdrop, the building blends into its scenic and natural surroundings.

School Vision
During the School’s inauguration, His Highness Aga Khan wrote in the visitor’s book:

“This has been a deeply important day to me. It has seen the beginning of what I hope will be a new vision of life in the Northern Areas and the discovery of a direction hitherto not believed to be realistic, that progress in all walks of life is genuinely achievable. I congratulate all those who have contributed to this achievement and express to them all my deepest gratitude. May the Academy fulfill everyone’s highest expectations, beginning with those of the students’ themselves”.

In the spirit of His Highness’ message, the School envisions to provide female students from the North with the opportunity to pursue education at national and international institutions of higher learning and preparing them for careers in medicine, commerce, science, engineering, law and education.

Guiding Principles
The School’s overall mission is to focus on the holistic growth of its students. To work towards accomplishing this mission, the School applies the following guiding principles:

In order to achieve its goals, the School institutes the following fundamentals: