The unique school of future leaders

A boys’ high school was opened last week in Kenya with what is considered a new way that integrates teaching and coaching methods adopted from top schools and embellished with input from global captains of industry.

The Nova Academies — modelled on the African Leadership Academy in South Africa — is likely to attract attention not only for its approach to education, but also the involvement of respected former Alliance High School principal Christopher Khaemba.

“In developing our schools, we spoke to hundreds of CEOs and leaders around the world to better understand what young people need to succeed in the 21st century,” he told Lifestyle. “We learned that students are not graduating with the skills that they need to lead and innovate at the next level.”

The system in the South African School African Leadership Academy is enriched and integrated with aspects of French, British and US systems with a focus on science, technology, engineering, mathematics and research.

When two graduates of America’s prestigious Stanford University decided to set up a Pan African school to train a new generation of African leaders, they had trouble finding a suitable principal — or dean — to lead the project.

American Chris Bradford and fellow Ghanaian social entrepreneur Fred Swaniker hoped to set up an institution to attract some of the brightest teenagers from across the continent and train them with the aid of a unique curriculum focusing on African studies, leadership and entrepreneurship.

This would, in the scheme of things, provide a production line for African leaders — something similar to Fort Hare college in Cape Town which attracted bright teenagers from the continent in the first half of the last century, including pioneer nationalists like South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, Kenya’s Charles Njonjo and Eliud Mathu, Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere, Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe.

MOULDING MINDS

The founders of the African Leadership Academy knew the importance of picking the right dean to steer the institution. After sifting through various impressive CVs, they decided Christopher Situma Khaemba was their man.

He was not only a long serving principal of Alliance High School and Friends School Kamusinga but a trailblazer, who had left his mark everywhere he worked.

But leading the South African-based academy was a different kind of challenge for Mr Khaemba. He took up the job after a rigorous interview that lasted six months. Originally 20 candidates were shortlisted from educational institutions across the continent. The number was narrowed to five candidates, with Mr Khaemba finally emerging tops to start the job in February 2008.

The school had attracted top-level support with eminent figures such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Graca Machel agreeing to sit in the board.

Mr Khaemba’s challenge was to take charge of a diverse faculty drawn from across the world and students from 45 countries mainly in Africa – and repeat his performance there.

The educationist took his customary golden touch to the African Leadership Academy. In the first class that was enrolled in September 2010, almost all the students landed full scholarships in some leading universities in the world.

He returned to Kenya ahead of the last elections and announced his intention to be Governor of Bungoma County — but did not contest. Now he serves as the county executive in charge of education in Nairobi County.

But you might say that the bug that bit him back when he was a teacher — of moulding young minds into greatness — has not left him.

He is one of the brains behind the establishment of Nova Academies in Kiambu County, which is the same neighbourhood that Mr Khaemba headed Alliance High School for 23 years.

Mr Khaemba says the system he established at the African Leadership Academy was quickly acknowledged as innovative and globally competitive as evidenced by 100 per cent admission rate to the leading universities worldwide.

“We tracked the performance of the students who had joined universities and all of them graduated with honours and had strong transcripts in their coursework,’’ he told Lifestyle.

The educationist says that at Nova Academies, students will learn through creation and exploration rather than just memorising. He says that although the school is offering the 8-4-4 curriculum, the system is full of hands-on projects and problem-solving challenges that build the confidence and character that students need to become innovators and leaders.

Mr Khaemba explains the school is founded on a system he calls STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). “We have designed every aspect of the student experiences to ensure that our graduates are prepared to embrace the opportunities and challenges ahead,’’ he says.

“Preparing our youth to succeed in the 21st century requires teaching them new skills with a new approach and this academy will be a unique, globally competitive school.”

He says that combining his experience leading Alliance High School and the African Leadership Academy and working with top educators, they will help deliver top academic results, strong values, and the holistic development needed to build the next generation of leaders and innovators. “If a country does not have those qualifications, it will not develop. We need innovators and exporters of goods,” Mr Khaemba told Lifestyle.

ADDED ADVANTAGES

He says this is different from what is offered in most Africa’s education systems which is largely geared at passing exams and not the future of the students.

“Many schools in Kenya are about memorising, passing exams and forgetting what you have learnt,’’ says Mr Khaemba.

In contrast, academic course work is the foundation of learning, he says.

“Our learning extends beyond exams and scores and the curriculum is designed to give students hands-on experience working in teams to develop the critical problem-solving skills that they will need in their careers,” Mr Khaemba says.

His aim, he adds, is to have graduates who are creative problem-solvers, collaborative leaders who develop self-mastery.

He considers it an added advantage that the students in the new Kenyan institution will get constant exposure to their global counterparts by interacting with sister schools in South Africa and Menlo in Silicon Valley, California.

“Students collaborate across borders on projects, experience and get opportunity to learn from one another by sharing different cultures,” says Mr Khaemba.

Tomorrow, the school will admit the first 120 boys. It costs Sh100,000 per term but Mr Khaemba explains there will be between 10 and 20 students on scholarship. There are plans to start a similar school for girls next year.

Teachers have been drawn from top Kenyan schools such as Maseno, Mang’u and Alliance.Mr Charles Tsuma, the founding principal, says the teachers have been taken through rigorous training and there is ongoing professional development.

Email: [email protected]