THE first thing that strikes you at the Aga Khan Academy in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, is the fact that there are no bells to mark the beginning or end of a lesson.
Yet the transition between periods or the end of recess is smooth, without the usual ruckus in the corridors. In fact, right from the time you enter the campus, spread over an overwhelming 100 acres (40.46ha), you can literally feel the difference.
In the junior school, students sit on the floor of the corridor outside their classroom, busy with their drawing kits.
Before you jump to the conclusion that they may have been punished by their teacher, one of them solemnly tells you that he likes being on his own while giving free rein to his imagination.
On display on one of the school boards are the words of the famous Indian poet, and Nobel Prize laureate Rabindranath Tagore: Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls.
The words from his famous composition Where the mind is without fear, do acquire a new meaning when headmaster John Puddefoot talks of inculcating the spirit of “pluralism” among students.
The academy is the second of a vast network of 18 schools that have been planned across Africa and in Asia — the first one being in Mombasa, Kenya. The third academy at Maputo, Mozambique, has just been started.
The Aga Khan — the spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims — is the founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network spread across 14 countries.
The network concentrates on areas such as health, education, rural development, environment and preservation of architecture and culture without “regard to origin, faith and gender”.
The Academy’s academic programme is based on the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme,.
It is widely recognised and slowly gaining ground in India.
It is designed to promote academic excellence, leadership qualities, social responsibility and a pluralistic outlook.
Students at the academy are encouraged to link the ideas and theories they learn in classrooms with real-life local and international issues.
Projects include community aid services where students mingle with the less privileged of neighbouring schools.
The campus provides state-of-the-art facilities, including science and computer laboratories, a library and resources centres, and extensive sports facilities.
But the most impressive part is the outreach programme taken up by the academy in order to train teachers of neighbouring government schools in imparting English and Mathematics lessons.
The training programmes are in collaboration with the Andhra Pradesh state government.
“Earlier we used to teach English by translating and this resulted in a situation where the students could not communicate in English on their own,” said the headmaster of a government school, referred to as Emannuel.
“We then told teachers to act out situations in order to communicate better with their students, instead of using the local language Telugu, when teaching English.
“The teachers were doubtful if acting out situations would work, but the students responded well,” he said.
As for the Mathematics training course, the teachers are encouraged to text their queries which are then uploaded to a blog since not everybody has access to a computer.
The teachers are also encouraged to adopt alternative methods of instruction where there is greater interaction with students in class. — Asia News Nework
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Choir in action: The Aga Khan (centre) listens attentively with other VIPs as the children belt out an inspiring song. - AP
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Yet the transition between periods or the end of recess is smooth, without the usual ruckus in the corridors. In fact, right from the time you enter the campus, spread over an overwhelming 100 acres (40.46ha), you can literally feel the difference.
In the junior school, students sit on the floor of the corridor outside their classroom, busy with their drawing kits.
Before you jump to the conclusion that they may have been punished by their teacher, one of them solemnly tells you that he likes being on his own while giving free rein to his imagination.
On display on one of the school boards are the words of the famous Indian poet, and Nobel Prize laureate Rabindranath Tagore: Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls.
The words from his famous composition Where the mind is without fear, do acquire a new meaning when headmaster John Puddefoot talks of inculcating the spirit of “pluralism” among students.
The academy is the second of a vast network of 18 schools that have been planned across Africa and in Asia — the first one being in Mombasa, Kenya. The third academy at Maputo, Mozambique, has just been started.
The Aga Khan — the spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims — is the founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network spread across 14 countries.
The network concentrates on areas such as health, education, rural development, environment and preservation of architecture and culture without “regard to origin, faith and gender”.
The Academy’s academic programme is based on the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme,.
It is widely recognised and slowly gaining ground in India.
It is designed to promote academic excellence, leadership qualities, social responsibility and a pluralistic outlook.
Students at the academy are encouraged to link the ideas and theories they learn in classrooms with real-life local and international issues.
Projects include community aid services where students mingle with the less privileged of neighbouring schools.
The campus provides state-of-the-art facilities, including science and computer laboratories, a library and resources centres, and extensive sports facilities.
But the most impressive part is the outreach programme taken up by the academy in order to train teachers of neighbouring government schools in imparting English and Mathematics lessons.
The training programmes are in collaboration with the Andhra Pradesh state government.
“Earlier we used to teach English by translating and this resulted in a situation where the students could not communicate in English on their own,” said the headmaster of a government school, referred to as Emannuel.
“We then told teachers to act out situations in order to communicate better with their students, instead of using the local language Telugu, when teaching English.
“The teachers were doubtful if acting out situations would work, but the students responded well,” he said.
As for the Mathematics training course, the teachers are encouraged to text their queries which are then uploaded to a blog since not everybody has access to a computer.
The teachers are also encouraged to adopt alternative methods of instruction where there is greater interaction with students in class. — Asia News Nework
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