“The vision of the Academies is to share what they have in terms of expertise, skills and resources with the surrounding communities,” explains Rupen Chande, Outreach Manager at the Aga Khan Academies. The Academies aim to support the national education systems where they are located by strengthening the quality of teaching and school leadership in government and other private schools. Each Academy includes a Professional Development Centre (PDC), with an explicit focus on outreach education. Recent activity at the PDCs highlights the scope of outreach efforts being undertaken by the Aga Khan Academies across the education spectrum.

“I’ve found amazing friends who have shared their culture with me, brought me into their homes, and made me realise that we are more alike than different,” says Aga Khan Academy Fellow Samantha Caras. A university graduate from the United States, Samantha joined the Academies on a two-year fellowship with the aim of exploring new cultures. She and other Academy Fellows have brought diverse perspectives and skills from across the world to both Hyderabad and Mombasa. In turn, the Fellows have had rich and meaningful experiences that have shaped their career paths and their worldviews.

On 14 July 2016, participants attending the International Baccalaureate (IB) Conference of the Americas in Toronto, Canada had an opportunity to expand their knowledge about Muslim diversity by attending a pre-conference day titled Understanding difference: Many Muslim voices, offered jointly by the Aga Khan Academies and the Aga Khan Museum. To help students value difference, educators themselves need to be exposed to new ways of looking at the world, for example through examining culture, history and diverse forms of human expression, and to explore how understanding of difference can be built within their own school communities.