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Aga Khan school surpasses global IB average pass mark
Sai Parate, the best student who scored 41 points. PHOTO/STEPHEN OTAGE
What you need to know:
The head teacher says this is the best result the school has ever posted
Aga Khan High School has surpassed this year’s International Baccalaureate (IB) global average, achieving 32.9 points and a 96 percent pass rate among the 25 candidates who took the May 2024 International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme examinations.
Mr Michael Musaazi, the head teacher, said this is the best result the school, which has been offering the IB Diploma Programme for the last 18 years, has ever posted.
Mr Musaazi said the school is one of the pioneering institutions in Kampala offering the programme.
“This year’s results were a significant improvement from last year’s performance. I thank the teachers for the dedicated work and the intense support provided by the school to the candidates for their assessments for the diploma programme,” he said.
“We managed to attain a top score of 41 points out of a maximum 45 points, and 72 percent of students achieving a score of 30 points or higher,” he added.
The head teacher said IB Diploma Programme is a two-year upper secondary school course where students study six subjects and meet core requirements. This includes submitting a 4,000 word report on an independent research project, an essay on a conceptual issue on the Theory of Knowledge, explaining the nature of knowledge, and on how we know what we claim to know. Students are also required to engage in projects that develop their creativity, physical activity and voluntary service.
Mr Musaazi attributed the good performance to the school’s participation in a global network of collaborative institutions that offer the programme, stable staff who support the students’ internal and external assessments and parental engagement in monitoring the students’ progress.
Mr Stephen Mawanda, the head of admissions, said: “We have also embarked on data driven teaching and using the outcome to individualise the teaching process. This has helped us to identify the strength and weaknesses of each child, which then enables the staff to focus attention towards individual improvement.”
Mr Mawanda said the creativity, physical activity and service component of the IB course, which is a compulsory component of the diploma programme, enabled the candidates build resilience and adaptability hence equipping the students with coping skills that endeared them to succeed.
He added that many of the students had already secured scholarships in foreign universities.
The top performers are Sai Parate, who scored 41 points; Amanda Isharaza, 39 points; Zoe Lynn Nkurunziza, 39 points; Amresh Reddy, 38 points; and Keith Rwezahura, 37 points.
