The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) on Saturday said they are in the process of establishing a new centre of educational excellence in Dhaka – The Aga Khan Academy.

This is being done in line with the renewed protocol of cooperation signed between the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and the Government of Bangladesh.

The Aga Khan has recently established a single agency, the Aga Khan Schools (AKS), which embraces both the Aga Khan Academies and the Aga Khan Education Services schools globally.

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The agency is consolidating its future education activities in Bangladesh around the Aga Khan Academy Dhaka, said the AKDN on Saturday.

Designed to international standards, the Aga Khan Academy Dhaka will also offer an award winning campus built to accommodate 1,200 students, with residential facilities on an 18-acre site.

Students and teachers will have access to purpose-built facilities and abundant green spaces for learning, recreation, sports and the arts.

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The Academy in Dhaka will be the fourth in the global network of 18 Aga Khan Academies, joining those in Mombasa (Kenya), Hyderabad (India) and Maputo (Mozambique).

The Academy plans to welcome the first cohort of students in July 2022, thereby continuing the AKDN’s tradition of providing outstanding educational services in Bangladesh for more than three decades.

Building on the vision of the Aga Khan, the goal of the not-for-profit Aga Khan Academy Dhaka is to develop future leaders for Bangladesh who are equipped with problem solving and critical thinking skills to enable them to compete in a highly interconnected, competitive, and globalised world, it said.

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These new demands will be best met through the globally accepted International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum, which will be adapted to the Bangladesh context and which emphasises enquiry, the development of research skills and critical thinking capacities.

The IB curriculum will be customised with the study of ethics; pluralism; economics for development; cultures, including Muslim civilisations; and governance and civil society.

All students currently enrolled at the Aga Khan School, Dhaka have been invited on a priority basis to continue their educational experience at the Academy in Bashundhara.

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To that end, a comprehensive consultation process is underway with all families of the Aga Khan School, Dhaka to better understand their requirements.

The details of the transition plan will be made available once this consultation process has been completed.

The AKS and AKDN leadership will continue to make every effort to ensure a seamless transition of students from the Aga Khan School, Dhaka to the Aga Khan Academy.

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"Our intention is to provide the best standard of education that we can for our students and to ensure a transition process that is aligned to our vision of excellence and is in the best interest of our students’ educational aspirations and experience going forward," said the AKDN.