The Aga Khan Schools in Pakistan

The Aga Khan Schools in Pakistan

The Aga Khan Education Service (AKES), Pakistan is one of the largest private networks of educational institutions in Pakistan.

Reaching the most remote and rural areas, AKES, Pakistan has been providing quality education in the country for over a hundred years. This includes pre-primary to higher secondary schools

The first Aga Khan School in Pakistan was established in 1905 in Gwadar, Balochistan. Over a century later, AKES, Pakistan now operates 153 schools and five hostels across the regions of Gilgit-Baltistan, Chitral, Punjab and Sindh.

The majority of schools, 148, are in Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral, and provide quality educational access to approximately 40,000 students, of which almost 50 percent are female. AKES, Pakistan also operates four schools in Karachi, three schools in the semi-urban areas of Sindh and one in Hafizabad, Punjab, with a total enrolment of 13,000 students.

The schools are very diverse and range from rural schools with less than 100 students, to large urban schools serving over 6,000 students. With more than 53,000 students and over 3,800 staff – including teachers and school leaders – AKES, Pakistan is supported by over 2,000 volunteers.

As a significant proportion of students served by AKES, Pakistan are from rural areas, strong efforts have been made to continue improving the quality of education in some of the most remote parts of the country. In Gilgit-Baltistan, the first AKES, Pakistan schools were set up as early as the 1940s and have since contributed significantly to increasing the rate of literacy and socio-economic development in these remote, mountainous regions of northern Pakistan.

The focus of AKES, Pakistan is on improving educational practice, as well as leadership in diverse and challenging settings. Other key areas include girls' access to education, child-centred teaching methods, increasing integration of information technology in schools and teaching methods and teacher development. AKES, Pakistan also prides itself on partnerships and collaboration with local governments and communities.

All AKES, Pakistan schools follow the national curriculum and place special emphasis on English, mathematics, science and information and communication technologies (ICT). Many of our schools are affiliated with the Aga Khan University Examination Board (AKU-EB) which is a certified Pakistan-based examination and education system accounting for a student's instruction from Grade 6 to Grade 12, after which they may pursue higher education. The curriculum is based on the Pakistan national curriculum and has an emphasis on concept-based learning. AKES, Pakistan is steadily transitioning all its schools towards affiliation with AKU-EB.

ECD Expansion

One of the key highlights of AKES, Pakistan's programmes include Early Childhood Development (ECD). Research shows that high-quality experiences in the early years of childhood are linked to positive outcomes associated with health, social and economic well-being as adults. AKES, Pakistan is addressing the need for more pre-primary provision in Pakistan and has been providing early years education since 2002. AKES, Pakistan's ECD programmes serve children aged 2-5 and provide ongoing training and support for teachers to facilitate the provision of a safe, stimulating and nurturing early learning environment for young children. These programmes foster children's cognitive, social, physical and language development, and enable them to become healthy, critically conscious and creative learners. In the past five years, AKES, Pakistan has increased enrolment in its ECD programmes from 6,700 students to over 9,000 students, with 151 out of 154 AKES, Pakistan schools providing pre-primary classes.

Infrastructure Expansion

Another key highlight of AKES, Pakistan is its commitment to providing quality educational spaces for learning and growing. Many students across Pakistan are not able to access full K-12 education close to their homes. AKES, Pakistan is working to address this challenge by investing heavily in state-of-the-art infrastructure, either by building new schools, or expanding existing schools to cater for additional grade levels and more students. Since 2016, over 110 classrooms have been added, which has expanded capacity for 3,500 additional students. Currently, 11 new, modern campuses with science and computer labs, libraries, and sports grounds – all powered by renewable energy – are under construction. They are expected to be completed by the end of 2024 and will further increase capacity for 6,000 additional students.

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