The Aga Khan Education Service, Pakistan (AKES, P)
AKES, P is one of the largest private network of education institutions in Pakistan. It was among the earliest non-governmental education providers in the region, establishing its first school in 1905 in Gwadar, Balochistan.

Almost a century later, AKES, P operates in all four provinces and Pakistan's Northern Areas reaching out to 50,000 students (65 percent female). As a direct education provider, AKES, P operates 187 schools and 4 hostels across Pakistan.

These institutions provide education to approximately 37,000 students, 75 percent of whom are in rural areas. More than 2,200 people work for the Service, of which more than 70 percent are teachers.

In recent years, AKES, P has also assumed a positive role in academic, professional, community and institutional development by supporting more than 190 Community Based Initiatives catering to approximately 13,000 students (70 percent female).

Its mission is to “… enable many generations of students to acquire both knowledge and essential spiritual wisdom needed to balance that knowledge and enable their lives to attain the highest fulfillment.”

AKES, P's conceptual framework is inspired by quality advancement and institutional development through strong partnerships and networking with other communities and institutions and designing replicable models based on past diverse experiences and learnings of the institution.

It also acts as a conduit to increase the awareness and capacities of deprived communities to generate a self-reliant and sustainable educational system, with a particular focus on educating females.

Aga Khan Education Service, Pakistan continues to work with the government and communities to develop models of public/private partnership, which play a vital role towards implementing the Education Sector Reforms of the Ministry of Education, Government of Pakistan.

Currently, the major initiatives throughout the system include:

• the introduction of computers and distance learning to supplement teaching and improve learning methods



• the improvement of physical infrastructure, particularly of community-based schools



• advanced teacher training through the Aga Khan University-Institute for Educational Development



• an East African education initiative to facilitate coordination of programmes, identification of best practices and quality educational initiatives, advancement of policy dialogue on privatisation of schools, improvement in teacher training and retention, and acceleration of computer-assisted educational methods
  
• development of English language and economics programmes at selected universities in Central Asia, through the Aga Khan Education Fund and



• collaboration with a leading private school in the USA - Phillips Academy, Andover - to improve AKES programmes in science, mathematics, economics, English language and technology.

For more information, visit the Aga Khan Development Network website:
http://www.akdn.org/agency/akes.html