Ask any Grade 7 student in Calgary what he or she wants to be one day and the response is likely to be a one-word answer.
Teacher. Engineer. Doctor. Perhaps even astronaut.
Ask the same question of students at the Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa, Kenya, however, and the answer becomes a thoughtful reflection on how they hope to make a difference in their country’s future.
A Grade 7 student named Asma, for example, talks about her hopes of going back to her village and improving living conditions there.
“As a girl, I want to go back as a woman who opened her community’s eyes, to change her community and I want to be a lawyer,” she says.
A classmate named Prudence has similar aspirations.
“I want to be a lawyer; I want to fight for the children, fight for women, fight for everyone, fight corruption,” says Prudence. “I want a better Kenya.”
Their words are inspirational and startlingly sophisticated for Grade 7 students. These are, however, children who’ve seen extreme poverty, hunger, disease and civil unrest.
These are also children who know that if they don’t change their country’s circumstances, most of their fellow Kenyans won’t live past age 55, according to the United Nation’s life expectancy rates.
“Students here really value education ... it changes their lives and it’s a way out of poverty,” says the head of the academy, Rob Burrough. “Our vision, our mission, is to grow leaders of tomorrow.”
The academy is part of the Aga Khan Development Network led by the Aga Khan, who is the 49th hereditary Imam (spiritual head) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims. The network spends $625 million annually on a wide range of projects that work to improve the welfare and prospects of people in the developing world.
“The Aga Khan has a vision to change society through education and he’s looking to build 18 academies across 14 countries,” Burrough says.
It isn’t just educational facilities for Grade 1 to 12 students that are in the works, however. Myriad projects are underway, including the creation of a new campus for the Aga Khan University’s Institute for Educational Development (IED), an East African professional development centre for teachers.
Since its inception seven years ago, the IED has received $5 million in funding from a Calgary group called Awali and has graduated more than 1,700 teachers.
Those teachers have made an impact on thousands of students and that trickles down to their families and community members.
But the need for more teachers is still great. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics notes that some of the lowest literacy rates in the world occur in sub-Saharan African nations.
Three countries in the sub-Sahara — Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda — are nations that are targeted by the IED for professional development of teachers.
While literacy is improving in many African countries such as these, other problems exist such as access to schools, quality of education and a brain drain, in which some of the best teachers leave their homeland.
There is also a shortage of educators, especially in rural areas, and very modest pay for those who take teaching jobs.
Globally, UNESCO notes that 1.7 million new teachers will be needed by 2015 to achieve universal primary education targets. Sixty per cent of those are required in sub-Saharan Africa.
It is those types of statistics that help fuel Awali’s drive to facilitate change.
On a recent trip to Africa, members of Awali stood atop a dilapidated concrete building in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, pondering the future of the land that stretched in front of them.
A tangle of wild brush and trees dominated the landscape; the area appeared unserviced and unpopulated.
For some, it might have been difficult to picture the area transformed into a gleaming new campus that will be home to a state-of-the-art IED — a new college for educating teachers.
But for Awali founders and Calgary businessmen Jim Gray, Sherali Saju and Brian Felesky, the vision was clear.
“We’ve taken IED to one level and it’s off the ground,” says Gray. “But now we’re talking about taking it to a whole new level, with substantially larger numbers of graduates and teachers.
“There’s a certain amount of pride about what’s been accomplished, but there’s also the realization that there’s so much more to do. ... There is so much opportunity. ... That really gets you energized.”
The $35-million campus will include functional classrooms, common areas, green space and student residences, says project architect Samir Sadrudin.
As part of the plan, another Grade 1 to 12 Aga Khan Academy will also be built as part of this campus.
“Education and knowledge are people’s way out (of poverty) and, boy, they are working at it,” says Gray.
People in Western nations may forget how valuable an education is, he says, pointing to the recent Alberta debate over whether a teacher can give a student a zero for not handing in an assignment.
“It just astonishes me sometimes when I see some of the things we get upset about,” says Gray.
“But in Africa, kids are fighting hard. They’re fighting hard to get an education; they’re fighting for everything they’ve got.”
In addition to educational projects, Aga Khan University is also spearheading a number of new health-related initiatives in East Africa.
Leading-edge technology and treatment, in fields such as cancer care, are now offered at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi.
“In the past, this kind of advanced treatment wasn’t readily available in this area,” explains Dr. Farrok Karsan, section head of radiation oncology. “We now can treat all types of cancer ... (and) we can treat up to 60 patients a day.”
Treatment of cancer and cardiac problems is expected to improve even more when a new health sciences campus opens in Nairobi in 2016, providing more opportunities for doctor and specialist training.
In addition, education programs for nurses are continuing to grow, which is particularly important because nurses are key health providers in East Africa, especially in remote areas.
And, to help the country develop its intellectual infrastructure, the university has plans to implement and/or expand graduate school programs in media, tourism, law, management, economics and architecture.
The centrepiece of this growth will be another new campus, but this one is an impressive megaproject, nestled on 3,000 beautiful acres in Arusha, a region of Tanzania.
The campus will be home to 2,500 undergraduate students, 3,000 graduate students, 550 professors and 10,000 staff.
“This will be a unique place,” says Greg Moran, who was appointed provost of Aga Khan University after being based for more than two decades at Western University in London, Ont.
“We believe that higher education is key ... to improved standards of living and helping people reach their potential in a number of areas,” he says. “(The new campus) will also increase the number of graduates who are job creators rather than job seekers.”
It will also generate employment, help reduce poverty and improve health care and educational standards for people of all faiths.
With the establishment of a broad-based university, young professionals will have a place to excel in their fields and complete research, which will help stem the brain drain from East Africa.
It’s important to create an environment that gives graduates professional satisfaction, adds Yasmin Amarsi, founding dean of the university’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, East Africa. The new campus will do that, while also changing the lives of thousands.
These types of growth projects have garnered praise for the Aga Khan Development Network and attracted partners from around the globe.
Here in Alberta, links with the network are already in place, via its partnerships and exchanges with the University of Calgary and University of Alberta.
Late last year, the network’s ties to Alberta were further strengthened when Premier Alison Redford signed an agreement of co-operation with the Aga Khan to expand collaboration on educational, environmental, health-science, natural resource and cultural development issues. (Alberta is the first Canadian province to sign this type of agreement with the Aga Khan.)
Significant development concerns still impact East Africa, but many global thinkers say that both public and private aid is making a difference and leading to a brighter future for the continent.
“African economies have been growing at an unprecedented rate in the last decade, growing at nearly six per cent since 2008,” Makhtar Diop, the World Bank’s vice-president for Africa, said in a recent speech.
There is “unprecedented opportunity for transformation and sustained growth,” added a World Bank report released last year.
That transformation should be everyone’s concern, says Felesky.
“You get involved because it’s the right thing to do, it makes you feel good and there’s something beautiful about it,” he says. “On a macro basis, it’s an extension of the same thing. ... The more we’re isolated (and) the more we’re not working together for the greater good, the more we’ll get trumped by lesser ambitions.
“It’s the right thing to do for our self-interest,” he notes. “If we don’t go out of our way to break down the barriers, to mitigate division, to build up the sharing and the common ground,” chances increase that hatred will grow and lead to conflict.
The problems of developing nations impact everyone because the world is more of a global village than ever before, adds Saju.
“Africa is the next continent for progress and ... to give that knowledge to the Calgary community would be a wonderful idea, so they understand what the issues are in Africa ... and can support solutions to the problems,” says Saju.
“You can’t change things overnight,” concludes Gray
“What you have to do is look at institutional change,” he says. “There has to be better teaching, there has to be more people engaged, (and) we have to give those young people hope. We have to give them a better future.”
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Opportunities+options+abound+teaching+campuses+will+help+transform+East+Africa+much+work+remains/8281959/story.html#ixzz2Rq738oAA
Teacher. Engineer. Doctor. Perhaps even astronaut.
Ask the same question of students at the Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa, Kenya, however, and the answer becomes a thoughtful reflection on how they hope to make a difference in their country’s future.
A Grade 7 student named Asma, for example, talks about her hopes of going back to her village and improving living conditions there.
“As a girl, I want to go back as a woman who opened her community’s eyes, to change her community and I want to be a lawyer,” she says.
A classmate named Prudence has similar aspirations.
“I want to be a lawyer; I want to fight for the children, fight for women, fight for everyone, fight corruption,” says Prudence. “I want a better Kenya.”
Their words are inspirational and startlingly sophisticated for Grade 7 students. These are, however, children who’ve seen extreme poverty, hunger, disease and civil unrest.
These are also children who know that if they don’t change their country’s circumstances, most of their fellow Kenyans won’t live past age 55, according to the United Nation’s life expectancy rates.
“Students here really value education ... it changes their lives and it’s a way out of poverty,” says the head of the academy, Rob Burrough. “Our vision, our mission, is to grow leaders of tomorrow.”
The academy is part of the Aga Khan Development Network led by the Aga Khan, who is the 49th hereditary Imam (spiritual head) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims. The network spends $625 million annually on a wide range of projects that work to improve the welfare and prospects of people in the developing world.
“The Aga Khan has a vision to change society through education and he’s looking to build 18 academies across 14 countries,” Burrough says.
It isn’t just educational facilities for Grade 1 to 12 students that are in the works, however. Myriad projects are underway, including the creation of a new campus for the Aga Khan University’s Institute for Educational Development (IED), an East African professional development centre for teachers.
Since its inception seven years ago, the IED has received $5 million in funding from a Calgary group called Awali and has graduated more than 1,700 teachers.
Those teachers have made an impact on thousands of students and that trickles down to their families and community members.
But the need for more teachers is still great. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics notes that some of the lowest literacy rates in the world occur in sub-Saharan African nations.
Three countries in the sub-Sahara — Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda — are nations that are targeted by the IED for professional development of teachers.
While literacy is improving in many African countries such as these, other problems exist such as access to schools, quality of education and a brain drain, in which some of the best teachers leave their homeland.
There is also a shortage of educators, especially in rural areas, and very modest pay for those who take teaching jobs.
Globally, UNESCO notes that 1.7 million new teachers will be needed by 2015 to achieve universal primary education targets. Sixty per cent of those are required in sub-Saharan Africa.
It is those types of statistics that help fuel Awali’s drive to facilitate change.
On a recent trip to Africa, members of Awali stood atop a dilapidated concrete building in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, pondering the future of the land that stretched in front of them.
A tangle of wild brush and trees dominated the landscape; the area appeared unserviced and unpopulated.
For some, it might have been difficult to picture the area transformed into a gleaming new campus that will be home to a state-of-the-art IED — a new college for educating teachers.
But for Awali founders and Calgary businessmen Jim Gray, Sherali Saju and Brian Felesky, the vision was clear.
“We’ve taken IED to one level and it’s off the ground,” says Gray. “But now we’re talking about taking it to a whole new level, with substantially larger numbers of graduates and teachers.
“There’s a certain amount of pride about what’s been accomplished, but there’s also the realization that there’s so much more to do. ... There is so much opportunity. ... That really gets you energized.”
The $35-million campus will include functional classrooms, common areas, green space and student residences, says project architect Samir Sadrudin.
As part of the plan, another Grade 1 to 12 Aga Khan Academy will also be built as part of this campus.
“Education and knowledge are people’s way out (of poverty) and, boy, they are working at it,” says Gray.
People in Western nations may forget how valuable an education is, he says, pointing to the recent Alberta debate over whether a teacher can give a student a zero for not handing in an assignment.
“It just astonishes me sometimes when I see some of the things we get upset about,” says Gray.
“But in Africa, kids are fighting hard. They’re fighting hard to get an education; they’re fighting for everything they’ve got.”
In addition to educational projects, Aga Khan University is also spearheading a number of new health-related initiatives in East Africa.
Leading-edge technology and treatment, in fields such as cancer care, are now offered at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi.
“In the past, this kind of advanced treatment wasn’t readily available in this area,” explains Dr. Farrok Karsan, section head of radiation oncology. “We now can treat all types of cancer ... (and) we can treat up to 60 patients a day.”
Treatment of cancer and cardiac problems is expected to improve even more when a new health sciences campus opens in Nairobi in 2016, providing more opportunities for doctor and specialist training.
In addition, education programs for nurses are continuing to grow, which is particularly important because nurses are key health providers in East Africa, especially in remote areas.
And, to help the country develop its intellectual infrastructure, the university has plans to implement and/or expand graduate school programs in media, tourism, law, management, economics and architecture.
The centrepiece of this growth will be another new campus, but this one is an impressive megaproject, nestled on 3,000 beautiful acres in Arusha, a region of Tanzania.
The campus will be home to 2,500 undergraduate students, 3,000 graduate students, 550 professors and 10,000 staff.
“This will be a unique place,” says Greg Moran, who was appointed provost of Aga Khan University after being based for more than two decades at Western University in London, Ont.
“We believe that higher education is key ... to improved standards of living and helping people reach their potential in a number of areas,” he says. “(The new campus) will also increase the number of graduates who are job creators rather than job seekers.”
It will also generate employment, help reduce poverty and improve health care and educational standards for people of all faiths.
With the establishment of a broad-based university, young professionals will have a place to excel in their fields and complete research, which will help stem the brain drain from East Africa.
It’s important to create an environment that gives graduates professional satisfaction, adds Yasmin Amarsi, founding dean of the university’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, East Africa. The new campus will do that, while also changing the lives of thousands.
These types of growth projects have garnered praise for the Aga Khan Development Network and attracted partners from around the globe.
Here in Alberta, links with the network are already in place, via its partnerships and exchanges with the University of Calgary and University of Alberta.
Late last year, the network’s ties to Alberta were further strengthened when Premier Alison Redford signed an agreement of co-operation with the Aga Khan to expand collaboration on educational, environmental, health-science, natural resource and cultural development issues. (Alberta is the first Canadian province to sign this type of agreement with the Aga Khan.)
Significant development concerns still impact East Africa, but many global thinkers say that both public and private aid is making a difference and leading to a brighter future for the continent.
“African economies have been growing at an unprecedented rate in the last decade, growing at nearly six per cent since 2008,” Makhtar Diop, the World Bank’s vice-president for Africa, said in a recent speech.
There is “unprecedented opportunity for transformation and sustained growth,” added a World Bank report released last year.
That transformation should be everyone’s concern, says Felesky.
“You get involved because it’s the right thing to do, it makes you feel good and there’s something beautiful about it,” he says. “On a macro basis, it’s an extension of the same thing. ... The more we’re isolated (and) the more we’re not working together for the greater good, the more we’ll get trumped by lesser ambitions.
“It’s the right thing to do for our self-interest,” he notes. “If we don’t go out of our way to break down the barriers, to mitigate division, to build up the sharing and the common ground,” chances increase that hatred will grow and lead to conflict.
The problems of developing nations impact everyone because the world is more of a global village than ever before, adds Saju.
“Africa is the next continent for progress and ... to give that knowledge to the Calgary community would be a wonderful idea, so they understand what the issues are in Africa ... and can support solutions to the problems,” says Saju.
“You can’t change things overnight,” concludes Gray
“What you have to do is look at institutional change,” he says. “There has to be better teaching, there has to be more people engaged, (and) we have to give those young people hope. We have to give them a better future.”
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Opportunities+options+abound+teaching+campuses+will+help+transform+East+Africa+much+work+remains/8281959/story.html#ixzz2Rq738oAA
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