Student Leadership at Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa

At the Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa, nine energetic student leaders meet after school every Wednesday. These students make up the Executive Committee of the Student Representative Council (SRC) and their task is to make the school a better place.

On a recent Wednesday, discussion focused around two events: a Town Hall-style meeting or kamkunji with the school’s Senior Leadership Team, and an all-school dance with a retro theme. Both were conceived, planned, and executed by these student leaders.   

The Town Hall meeting was proposed to the Citizenship Committee as a way to bring students’ questions to AKA, Mombasa’s major decision-makers. In response to a general feeling in the student body that administrators were not aware of their problems, the SRC representatives decided to give the students the opportunity to ask these questions themselves. On the day of the kamkunji, the student body submitted queries for five of the school’s top administrators. The members of the SRC read and sorted hundreds of student questions, and then posed the best ones to the Head of School, the Senior School Principal, the Vice Principal of Student Life, the Vice Principal of Admissions, and the Facilities Manager for a panel discussion.

The meeting was considered a success, largely to the credit of the SRC. The event accomplished many electoral goals of SRC members, including providing a link between students and faculty, representing the student body, and ensuring that student voices are heard. Aside from these goals, candidates for the SRC must show promise as leaders and be good examples for their peers academically and socially.

The second event the SRC was planning that Wednesday showed a different side to them—in addition to discussing important issues and engaging different areas of the school community, the students also want to relax and have a good time. The Retro Party was a successful night with music, lights, glow sticks, and fun for all the students of AKA, Mombasa, representatives included.

The SRC is made up of students from all year levels, Year 6 to DP2. Two DP2 presidents oversee the entire body, while DP1 Executive members oversee various subcommittees. These subcommittees include Academics, Action, Expression, Citizenship, Houses, Finance, and Residential. Each subcommittee has several other elected and appointed members, with each class year having at least four representatives. Through a two day training retreat, weekly committee meetings, regular interactions with faculty and administrators, and communication and collaboration with peers, the students of the SRC develop skills outlined in the AKA, Mombasa learner profile.

Before the end of the academic year, SRC members will have been responsible for artistic and athletic events, class parties, peer tutoring and mediation programs, interhouse competitions, and more. Together, they exemplify the expectations that AKA, Mombasa has for its students, and develop skills that will turn them into local, national, and international leaders in the future.

You can learn more about the AKA, Mombasa SRC and follow their activity here.