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Education Activities in India

AKES focuses on educational research, career guidance, building the capabilities of stakeholders and other educational activities.The first Aga Khan School was founded in Mundra (Gujarat) in 1905. Since then, the number of schools and other education institutions run by AKDN agencies has risen to over 80. The Aga Khan Education Services (AKES) and the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) are the principal AKDN agencies working in education in India. AKF has been principally involved in raising education quality by supporting a number of innovative programmes. Other priorities of both AKES and AKF have been assuring access to quality education, the adaptability of curricula to local circumstances and the anticipation of future needs. In 2006, the foundation stone of an Aga Khan Academy, which will be part of an international network of centres of educational excellence, was laid in Hyderabad.

Introduction
Working in urban and rural areas in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra since 1986, AKES,I has engaged in making school level education for disadvantaged children more stimulating.

AKES, I brings together resources from across the developed and the developing worlds and commits them to long-term objectives. Leading characteristics of AKES, I’s work may be defined as follows :

• The continuing pursuit of excellence in educational practice and management in diverse and challenging settings;
• Child-centred teaching methods;
• A special emphasis on female education; and
• Professional development of educators.

Apart from managing nine schools and a hostel, AKES, I manages 33 day care centres and 10 Rural Primary Education Centres. As part of its various programmes, it also focuses on educational research, career guidance, capacity building of stakeholders and other educational interventions, all aimed at enhancing access to good quality education. AKES, I directly impacts 40,000 beneficiaries, by enriching their lives through quality education.

History and Overview
From community-based literacy classes taught in remote rural settings in Africa and Asia at the turn of the 19th century, AKES has emerged as one of the largest private educational networks in the developing world. Today, comprehensive school systems from pre-primary to higher secondary are underpinned by innovative teacher development programmes.

AKES is a network of educational institutions that combines the operation of over 300 schools with the management of programmes to enhance the quality of teachers, academic resources and learning environments in Asia and Africa.

AKES seeks to respond creatively to the educational needs of children in the developing world in a way that will enable those children better to shape their future. It believes that all children must have access to good schools, effective teachers and the best learning resources possible. AKES schools encourage children to learn to live in their world and to make it better for themselves and others. Similarly, teachers should enjoy teaching, and students to like learning and to want to continue to learn throughout their lives. AKES wants communities to take responsibility for ensuring that their children receive quality education.

AKES is part of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).

Early Childhood Education
For a large number of poor Indian children, disadvantaged by poor health, malnutrition and a lack of learning opportunities, access to quality education means strengthening their human capability and improving their life chances. Developing human capability begins with the earliest years of childhood - years that are critical for brain development and which impact the entire life cycle. Global research indicates that 85 percent of a child’s core brain structure is already formed by age three, so investing in the early years is critical.

AKES,I understands that child development is essentially integrated in nature, encompassing health, nutrition and education. Putting this into practise, the day-care centres in rural Gujarat have been working since 1982 through a non-formal curriculum to improve learning about life skills, through teaching better health and nutrition practices alongside basic skills. The approach at these centres, often involving mothers, emphasises the role of the family in early childhood education. In areas where primary schools are not of a quality comparable to the day-care centres, “graduates” from these centres sustain their “head start” at after-school classes organised by AKES, I’s Rural Primary Education Programme. Innovative resources built around the school syllabus teach English, Gujarati, maths and environmental studies. Parental and community awareness and involvement is an important component of this programme.

Many of the Network’s pioneering efforts in "pre-school education" are now being replicated in countries across Africa, Central Asia and South Asia began in India. The Shishu Pahel Paddhati, developed by AKES,I, is a well-researched methodology based on various international curricula and contextualised to the local needs. This has now been institutionalised across the AKES network as part of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). The Shishu Pahel Paddhati emphasises "child initiated learning". Children are encouraged to plan and construct their own learning, thus retaining their natural self-confidence. It provides the child with opportunities for physical, emotional and social development. Through uniquely designed classrooms, the child experiences the joys of reading, expression, mathematics, music, movement, water and sand play, art and craft.

Primary and Higher Education
At the primary and higher levels the focus is on "child centred education". This involves curriculum design, classroom interactions, and the achieving of learning outcomes. The education process, using an integrated curriculum, is supplemented by a variety of co-curricular activities including sports, field trips and project methods. The education philosophy emphasises that:

• Every student is potentially an independent thinker, with an infinite capacity to acquire knowledge;
• Given the space, students are capable of constructing activities that would lead to effective learning outcomes;
• Children do not come to school as blank slates. Each child arrives with a knowledge base that constitutes a foundation for future learning;
• Students are intuitively aware of what they need to learn and how they need to learn. Each student will vary in the pace at which s/he learns.
• The student must be given appropriate space to direct the pace and content of what s/he learns, and will then be able to add her/his own unique inputs during the learning process;
• Students learn most effectively through collective reflections shared with peers and facilitators and through group discussions.

The education of girls, whose access to formal education is still limited in many parts of the country, especially in comparision to their male siblings, is given high priority by AKES, I. Many AKES, I schools have "social workers" who regularly interact with parents and communities to ensure that their girls are sent to school.

In 2002, AKES,I brought the first hostel - Aga Khan Hostel at Hyderabad - into its network. The focus is to develop hostels into institutes of higher of learning and transit points for higher education.

Teaching Methodology
Teaching content and methodologies need to stimulate children's interest and capacity to learn.

AKES,I develops curricula that builds on the local context through, for example, the use of local art forms, stories and songs, and reference to local history and geography, while taking economic constraints into account through the promotion of low cost, self made teaching aids. Active and child-centred teaching methods are introduced to complement the traditional teaching approaches, which are heavily dependent on rote learning and teaching to the class as a whole.

Aga Khan Academy
The first of an international network of “schools of excellence” - the Aga Khan Academies - was established in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2003. More such Academies will be introduced in other countries across Africa and Central and South Asia. In India an Aga Khan Academy is proposed for Hyderabad. The Academies will be characterised by superior facilities, student and faculty exchanges and a teaching approach that emphasises analytic and critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving, moral reasoning and cultural pluralism. Their curricula of international standing will cover information technology, humanities, economics, sciences, sports and fine arts. For mroe information, please see Excellence in Education and the Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa.

School Improvement
The School Development Programme (SDP) is a critical component of AKES, I schools. Through 350 committed school personnel, AKES,I focuses on “Whole School Development” in order to enable an environment that is conducive to holistic development of the child. The programme is reaching out to 27 schools and impacts about 12000 students, of which three fourths are from urban areas. In the 2003-04 academic year, more than four-fifths of the students (85 %) belonged to disadvantaged groups.

The emphasis is on the school culture, leading to their evolvement into effective learning organisations. Through systematic, long-term efforts focused on organisational and human processes, SDP works to address the belief and value systems of schools (as learning organisations), and the supporting attitudes, behaviour, technology and tasks, to facilitate a common goal achievement - organic systems that can facilitate quality education that meets future requirements. The SDP technology is based on four parameters:

• Joint Problem Solving;
• Reflective Practices;
• Creating an Enabling Environment through Informed Leadership and
• Sustainability through Outreach.

Through facilitating interventions affecting group and individual processes, the programme provides platforms for the development of expertise of all stakeholders. This enables stakeholders to work as a team to achieve common goals, constantly reflecting and modifying them when necessary (joint problem solving) and creating efficient systems to facilitate effective real life learning outcomes.

Whether established anew or integrated into its network over years, AKES-managed urban schools in Andhra Pradesh and in Mumbai have benefited from School Improvement Programmes which have focused upon the learner and the learning process.

This experience has led to the creation of Education Resource Centres at the four urban schools (two in Mumbai and one each in Hyderabad and Warangal) and the three rural schools (Sidhpur, Chitravad and Mundra). The intention, as in School Improvement Programme applied in East Africa, is to broaden the reach of new methodologies and teacher education to local government agencies, non- governmental organisations and other schools.

Technologies and methods applied at these centres will also inform the planning of new AKES, I schools which are envisaged for North Mumbai and Vapi (near Mumbai) and Surat in Gujarat.

Increasing Community Involvement In Education
Local schools are rarely accountable to parents and there is little sense of ownership from communities. For basic education to be effective, communities need to become active stakeholders. Experience shows that services for children, whether through the ‘aanganwadi’ or the primary school, get utilised by the community only to the extent that the service delivered is perceived to be of value by the community. On the other hand, quality on such a large scale can only be assured through greater community involvement, oversight and ownership.

AKES, I has found ways of empowering communities to overcome dependency and mediocrity and respond to their own educational needs. For such communities, building their own future means ensuring that their children can access better schools. Greater community involvement has also included support to the establishment of community-owned and managed early childhood development centres or pre- and primary schools, improving the accountability of government schools towards parents and increasing the parental role in the financing and management of schools and early childhood development activities.

Consulting parents on what constitutes quality basic education can have a major positive impact on, for example, girls' access to and retention in schools, as the availability of female teachers, safe journey from and to home, and separate toilets for girls often determine whether parents feel they can send their daughters to school.

The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) has been an important take-off point for parental involvement in the education process. Significant contributions made by the PTA have ranged from fund-raising for courses, projects, and support for poor children, to reducing the incidences of late coming, and enforcing discipline and responsibility in children. School Management Committees in AKES, I schools also serve to act as an interface between school and community.

Parents also participate in the day-to-day classroom processes. In one AKES, I school, the last period of the day was reserved for the observation of classroom teaching by parents. In projects like the Primary Classroom Research Project (PCRP), which explores learning through unconventional methods, parents were encouraged to raise questions. The involvement created at this level, led them to graduate into becoming resource providers by contributing generously in improving the classroom infrastructure, required for the project.

Professional Development
AKES, I has long recognised how essential competent and qualified human resources are to quality schools. Identifying and testing appropriate ways to support these individuals through initial and in service training, regular tutoring and mentoring and through providing access to nearby resource centres is a key concern. Therefore the focus is on enhancing skills of teachers who are already in service, management training, curriculum development and research.

Developing leadership is emphasised, thereby, facilitating a culture based on respect, mutual trust and transparency. Coordination, development and core-group meetings are institutionalised mechanisms for ensuring sharing, reflection and joint decision-making. To ensure that it remains at the cutting edge of education in the developing world, AKES, I emphasises investment in technologies of teaching.

Since motivated and well-trained teachers and Early Childhood Development (ECD) staff are essential to quality basic education, most AKES, I teachers and ECD staff are women. Training needs therefore take women's circumstances and constraints into account. For example, women often find it extremely difficult to leave their home villages for lengthy full-time center based training. Training programmes that accommodate women's needs can be a powerful instrument to build local female teachers' confidence and leadership skills, and enable them to become inspirational role models for young girls.

Linking with Government
The Sishu Pahel Paddhati methodology has been proposed to be an integral component of teacher training for the Gujarat state curriculum. One member of AKES,I has been appointed on the Gujarat Government’s Core Committee that decides on various aspects of the curriculum at the ECCE levels. Due to its extensive work with the government in Andhra Pradesh, one component of the SDP technology - Reflective Practices -has been adopted as a best practice, through a government resolution. The linkages of AKES,I and its schools with various government programmes like Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), etc. and prominent NGOs such as Pratham and others are strategies adopted by AKES,I in order to upscale its interventions in the mainstream system.

International Linkages
AKES, I like other AKES units worldwide, benefits from the International Academic Partnership (IAP) which today includes AKES ; Phillips Academy, Andover, USA ; Schule Schloss Salem, Germany ; and the Institute for Educational Development of the Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. Linkages are being enhanced with the University of Central Asia, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Texas at Austin, Oxford University, the University of Calgary and the University of Toronto.