British actress and advocate, Emma Watson, was once asked by a female fan how to convince her father that she could be an engineer. Watson’s reply: “Become an engineer.” In the same vein, 17-year-old Indira Bulhan is pursuing a career in physics with the hope of one day becoming an astronaut, a traditionally male-dominated field.

“Physics has been the subject which never failed to fascinate me. It always made me question, understand, explore and enjoy at the same time. However, I am more interested in looking for things which are yet hidden from human intellect. I like doing things which no one has done before. I aspire to become an astronaut someday.”

It is Indira’s belief that her time at the Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad will play a key role in allowing her to achieve her dreams and further her ambition to explore the mysteries of the universe.

“At the Academy, a school day is not just a normal school day, but an incredible journey. Every day is like a new exploration filled with fun and thrills. I enjoy the entire school day as it is filled with fun, challenges and of course, loving friends and supportive teachers.”

Life at the Academy, however, is not simply about gaining a classroom education. For students like Indira, the Academy places great emphasis on learning life lessons through the community service programs that are part of their extracurricular activities. By teaching students the importance of caring about others, the Academy instills a sense of altruism and accountability that will hopefully grow as the students move forward with their lives.

“My favourite extracurricular activity is Caring Hands. [As a group], students go to an organisation where abandoned, ill and stray animals such as dogs, cats, rabbits and birds are kept and taken care of. Being an animal lover, I love going to the place where I can care for the animals and make them happy, even for a little while. Sometimes, language is not required to understand each other and to build a bond and this becomes evident when we go to Caring Hands.”

With her incredible appetite to explore the known and unknown universe, Indira is well on her way to making a remarkable contribution to our society at large, which she hopes will make her father proud.

“My role model in life is my dad. He is the one who never gives up hope and never fails to see the beauty of simplicity. He believes in himself and originality [and is] someone who wants to do something different than what others are already doing. He has always been a source of inspiration for me.”

By Uzma Rajan

Newsletter readers please click here to return to the newsletter (browser version)

 

 

 

The Aga Khan Academy Maputo is a Candidate School* for the Diploma Programme. The Academy is pursuing authorisation as an IB continuum school. These are schools that share a common philosophy — a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education that the believes is important for our students.

What is the MYP?

The MYP is a challenging and exciting inquiry-based curriculum that actively engages students in their learning by encouraging them to make connections between what they study and the wider world.  The five-year programme offers students access to a curriculum that is broad and balanced, conceptual and connected.  What matters is not absorbing facts that can be repeated but developing ways of thinking that can be applied to new situations.

There are 8 subject groups within the MYP.  Here at the Aga Khan Academy in Maputo our students study Portuguese and English language and literature, Portuguese, English and, in MYP3, French language acquisition, humanities, sciences, mathematics, visual arts, design and physical and health education.

In addition to the academic subjects our MYP students also develop leadership skills, library research skills and initiate and participate in service with the community.

In the final year of the programme students complete a personal project that encourages them to strengthen their approaches to learning skills, consolidate prior and subject-specific learning and develop an area of personal interest. In the context of the Aga Khan mission, vision and values it also develops awareness of a community need and seeks to address it in a meaningful way. The personal project is challenging, motivational and interesting as each student develops a personal project independently.

MYP Learners

The MYP promotes open communication, based on mutual understanding and respect. It encourages students to become active, compassionate lifelong learners.  The programme is holistic and as such is concerned with developing the whole person.  Along with cognitive development, the programme addresses students’ social, emotional and physical well-being. Students are encouraged to become active and caring members of local, national and international communities who respect themselves, others and the world around them. They develop effective communication skills, social skills, self-management skills, research skills and thinking skills that will enable them to adapt to a range of contexts, as they make their way through life.

Assessment for learning

Teachers use a variety of assessment strategies to address the MYP subject-group objectives. The assessment for learning tasks include, among other things compositions, creating solutions or products in response to problems, essays, examinations, investigations, questionnaires, research tasks, performances, presentations, research task and reports.

In the fifth and final year of the MYP, to be eligible for the internationally recognized MYP certificate students must successfully complete eight eAssessments:

On-screen examinations in:

• Language and literature
• Individuals and societies (Humanities)
• Sciences
• Mathematics
• Interdisciplinary learning

 

ePortfolios (coursework) in:

• language acquisition
• physical and health education, arts or design
• the personal project

 

Students must also meet the school’s expectations for service and action. 

The MYP bilingual certificate additionally requires successful results from on-screen examinations of:

A second language and literature instead of a course in language acquisition

The maximum total score for the IB MYP certificate is 56, with a grade from 1-7 assigned to each required eAssessment.

Students must achieve a total of at least 28 points, with a grade of ‘3’ or higher n each eAssessment component, to be eligible to receive the MYP certificate.

Transition to the IB Diploma (DP)

MYP subject groups form an important common foundation for all students and provide strong alignment with the six subject groups in the DP which follows.  The two year DP course encourages depth and breadth of learning and builds on students’ prior learning experiences. This encourages them to become confident, independent learners. It also encourages students to develop their critical thinking skills, self-management and global mindedness. Further, research carried out on behalf of the IB demonstrates that successful DP graduates are much more likely to be enrolled at top higher education institutions than entrants holding other qualifications.

Please visit the Admission Requirements page or contact us to find out more about applying to the MYP programme at the Academy.

 

*Only schools authorised by the IB Organization can offer any of its four academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the Diploma Programme, or the Career-related Programme (CP). Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorisation will be granted. For further information about the IB and its programmes, visit http://www.ibo.org.