MOMBASA, Dec 23: The Aga Khan and Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki opened the first in what is to be a global network of Centres of Excellence in Mombasa at the weekend.

The aim of the project sponsored by the spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims is to seek to promote educational standards worldwide through joint ventures and interaction among students from different countries and cultures.

“It is my hope that through joint ventures and curriculum collaboration, the schools will continue to enhance the global content so necessary today in the standards of education such as that of North-America and Europe,” said the Aga Khan during the inauguration of the school on Saturday.

The Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa is a pioneer of a planned network of schools offering an international curriculum in primary and secondary school, according to the Aga Khan Education Services in Kenya.

Similar schools will be set up in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, Syria, Kyrghyzstan, Tajikistan and later in Afghanistan. —AFP