Education Service: The Aga Khan Primary School, Dar es Salaam

The Aga Khan Education Service, Tanzania (AKES, T)
The Aga Khan Education Service (AKES) aims to provide quality education that impart broad knowledge and develops independent and critical thinking skills. The 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 characterised by globalisation and technological advancement.

To provide such an education requires qualified and motivated teachers. To this end, AKES provides staff development programmes and sound human resource management policies. AKES invests heavily in human and financial resources through:

in-house staff development programmes related to teaching methodologies
updating of teachers' subject knowledge
curriculum development in collaboration with international schools and universities
provision of a wide range of sporting activities
updating the libraries and information technology systems as teaching and learning tools.

AKES operates a total of four schools, each of which have earned a reputation for offering quality education to Tanzanians. The Aga Khan Mzizima Secondary School is rated among the top secondary schools in the country and is recognised for its outstanding examination results, particularly in the fields of science and mathematics. To maintain these standards, AKES works to continually upgrade its operations. 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.

AKES alos cooperates with the Tanzanian Government in order to augment government efforts to bring education to all Tanzanians

For more information, visit the Aga Khan Development Network website.