Aga Khan Education Service, Tanzania

The Aga Khan Education Services (AKES) education is designed to assist students in acquiring the values and life skills that will enable them to make their way confidently in a world characterized by globalization and technological advancement.

The Aga Khan Schools strive to create a harmonious balance between academic demands, sporting and cultural activities and community life.Introduction
AKES,T operates a school for students 2 ½ yrs - 18 yrs old  in Dar es Salaam and a nursery for 2 ½ yrs - 6 yrs old in Mwanza on Lake Victoria in the north of Tanzania.  AKES,T aims to provide quality education that imparts a broad set of skills and knowledge and that  develops independent and critical thinking abilities.  The education is also designed to assist students in acquiring the values and life skills that will enable them to make their way confidently in a world characterized by globalization and technological advancement.

Our school in Dar es Salaam offers a continuum of high-quality education at an affordable cost. Over 100 years’ of experience is combined to provide education to the highest standard in modern, well-equipped facilities with well-qualified staff whose focus is on providing stimulating lessons based on an understanding of current approaches to teaching and learning.

The AKDN Network
Our schools are part of the Aga Khan Education Service (AKES).  AKES is one of the agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and currently operates more than 300 schools and advanced educational programmes. These schools provide quality pre-school, primary, secondary and higher secondary education services to more than 54,000 students in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Tajikistan.

The Aga Khan Schools strive to create a harmonious balance between academic demands, sporting and cultural activities and community life. We seek to provide a rigorous, well-rounded education which allows children to discover and nurture their talents and develop into independent critical thinkers with a love of learning.
Find out more on the Aga Khan Development Network

History of Aga Khan Education
Services, Tanzania

The origins of the Aga Khan schools in Tanzania go back to the 19th century when a girls’ school was started by the Ismaili community in Zanzibar under the guidance of the present Aga Khan’s grandfather and predecessor, Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan.  By 1954 there were over 50 schools throughout Tanzania.  Premises were generally custom-built and included laboratories, libraries and playgrounds. Although initially mainly patronised by Ismailis, the schools were the first to open their doors to people of all races and faiths.  In pre-independence East Africa, the phenomenon was not merely innovative, it was little short of original.

In Tanzania, all aspects of educational activities of non-Governmental schools, other than their land and buildings, were nationalised in 1967.  This did not effect the pre-school nurseries, which continued to operate under the control of the Aga Khan Education Service.

The Aga Khan Mzizima Secondary School was built in 1967 in response to the closure of the schools. It was the first private secondary school to be established in Tanzania after the Arusha Declaration.  Mzizima has, since the 1980s, been at the forefront of educational innovation in Dar es Salaam and was one of the first schools to introduce inquiry-based learning methodologies and to integrate IT into all aspects of school life.

In 1993 the Aga Khan Primary School in Dar es Salaam opened and became the first English-medium primary school for local students in the country.