Speech by Prince Rahim Aga Khan, Inauguration of the Aga Khan Academy Maputo

Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim

Your Excellency, President Nyusi, Republic of Mozambique

Your Excellency, President Marcelo of the Portuguese Republic

Your Excellency, President Chissano

Honourable ministers and excellencies

Students, parents, and staff of the Aga Khan Academy

Todo protocol compredo

Ladies and gentlemen

On behalf of His Highness the Aga Khan, good afternoon. Your Excellency, President Nyusi, without your friendship and your support for this project we would not be here today. Under your leadership, the Mozambican authorities provided the enabling conditions for this project to see the light of day. We are inspired by your leadership and honoured by your presence – thank you.

Excellency, President Marcelo, your presence here today is a symbol of the deep friendship between the Ismaili Imamat and the Republic of Portugal, and we are honoured and grateful that you are here with us.

Excellency, President Chissano, I know that my father the Aga Khan and Your Excellency first discussed education in Mozambique some five decades ago. And that you are here today for this inauguration is an honour and a joy – thank you. I wish to thank our friends at the Agence Française de Développement for their collaboration on this academy project. They are a longstanding and valued partner of the Aga Khan Development Network, and we appreciate them deeply.

This Academy is one among a growing network of integrated Aga Khan Academies comprising Mombasa, Kenya; Hyderabad, India; Maputo; Dhaka, Bangladesh, currently in construction; and Lisbon, Portugal, in the design phase. These will be followed by Islamabad, and Inshallah several more. The wide geographic spread of the Academies is by design – to allow students and staff to seamlessly travel to academies in other countries, see different cultures, and build an appreciation and a love for them. The intercultural awakening that we hope will be experienced at the Aga Khan Academies is further enhanced by their highly diverse student bodies. For instance, in this academy, half the students are Mozambican, while the other half hail from 23 other countries.

It is no accident then, that one of the Aga Khan strands with which the Academies complement the International Baccalaureate is pluralism. We know that the Academy students will graduate into a highly interconnected world, and they need therefore to be open minded and exposed to a multiplicity of backgrounds and of views. Further preparing the Academy students, the IB curriculum at this academy is taught in two languages – Portuguese and English – but an almost unlimited number of languages can be learnt here.

As a centre of excellence, this Academy will equip its students with the tools needed to be competitive and to thrive, as they go on to their universities and then enter the arena of adult life. And it will teach them to push themselves to be the best they can possibly be.

But just as important as the academic tools with which the academy will equip its students, are the values they will strengthen here. Indeed, another one of the Aga Khan strands interwoven into the IB curriculum is that of ethics. Ethics are taught here not just in theory, but put into practice in elements of service and of leadership in the student's daily lives. The Aga Khan Academies intend for their graduates not to be good at subjects only, but good as individuals. While tools are important, the values that drive their use are what will make the world better through these students. Our commitment to our parents, then, is to do our utmost to develop values and ethics in their children, just as we equip them with the practical skills needed to achieve success in their lives.

To the students here today, I would like to share with you one perspective. Throughout your studies and your youth, adults will tell you that the future is ahead of you. I want to tell you that the future is what you leave behind you, shaped by every one of your actions and your statements and your decisions. The future follows behind you in the path that you choose. Look at this academy - it's an institution born of past decisions and past actions, which now will shape the future: your future, the future of your families, and the future of this beautiful country, Mozambique.

I cannot end today without saying that what I've seen here in the last days is a great friendship between the Ismaili Imamat and these two countries. And I think in our organisation and in our community, nobody embodies friendship as much as our diplomatic representative, Nazim Ahmad, without whom perhaps all of this would have been much more difficult. So Nazim, I want to recognise your role in getting us all here today.

Thank you very much.