Articles of Interest

“Every second that I am here, I want to use this properly because this chance will never come again in my life,” says 14-year-old Arzou Lashkari.
Arzou is one of 12 students from Afghanistan and Tajikistan who have come to the Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad. They are part of a programme that expands the diversity of the student body while providing an outstanding education to talented students who cannot access high quality schooling in their home environments.

“The stereotypes in my head were shattered,” says Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad student Rohan Reddy after working with youth in a rural Indian village. “It wasn’t a one-way exchange. It was two ways.”

Rohan’s experience taught him to appreciate the perspectives of people different from himself – a key element in developing a pluralistic outlook. Nurturing pluralistic leaders is integral to the Academies programme. It requires focused effort both in the classroom and through experiences that engage students with people from diverse backgrounds.

“I looked at this internship as a window of opportunity to discover more about where I come from and…as an opportunity to help my own people,” says Genesis Kayemba. Genesis is one of the many Aga Khan Academies students who participated in summer internships within the Aga Khan Development Network and other partner organisations earlier this year. These unique internships give students hands-on development and work experience within their home communities and countries.

Rethinking urban housing design is a tall task for a teenager, but that didn’t deter Academy student Insha Ladha. After seeing first-hand the difficult living conditions in an informal housing settlement in Hyderabad, Insha decided to focus her grade 10 personal project on rethinking settlement design to improve the residents’ quality of life. Through their personal projects, Insha and many of her peers at the Academies are tackling challenging social issues head-on.