Cities / Hyderabad / The Aga Khan Academy
The Aga Khan Academy
Hyderabad's second flagship international option after ISH. The 100-acre Maheshwaram campus is a 2011-opening gift from the Telangana state government, and the school sits within the global Aga Khan Academies network.
In brief
Hyderabad's second flagship international option after ISH. The 100-acre Maheshwaram campus is a 2011-opening gift from the Telangana state government, and the school sits within the global Aga Khan Academies network.
Day and boarding through ages 1 to 18, with the residential programme keyed to the senior years. Full IB continuum: Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma. Headed by Dr Jonathan Long since 2019, with separate junior and senior school principals. Around 630 students.
Fees run INR 4.85 to 14.65 lakh a year, with the upper end covering boarding. The Maheshwaram setting near Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is far from central Hyderabad, which means many families either use the boarding route or pick a closer day school. Service-leadership and pluralism are core to the network framing across all Aga Khan Academies.
Reviews
Current and recent students paint a noticeably gloomier picture than the prospectus. The line that comes up repeatedly is decline: budget cuts, management that students describe as disengaged, and good teachers leaving over pay, with newer hires filling the gaps. The huge campus and sports fields impress on a tour, but students say the equipment behind them is thin and dated. Boarders raise the sharpest concerns, from overcrowding to bullying. Parents weighing it tend to do so against Indus, ISH and Oakridge, and the read is rarely that this is the clear academic pick.
Positives
- Caring teachers, attractive campus. Some families single out teachers who know each child individually, and the green, spacious 100-acre site shows well in person. Comparison chatter also gives it a name for sport over its IB rivals.
Considerations
- Sense of decline. A current student and a recent graduate both describe the school as having fallen off, tying it to budget cuts and a leadership change. The phrase that recurs is that it keeps getting worse rather than better.
- Teacher pay and turnover. Students say strong teachers have left over low pay and been replaced by less experienced hires. Staff-side commentary echoes modest compensation, and the pattern feeds doubts about how well academics are supported.
- Boarding concerns. Boarders flag overcrowded living, ragging and bullying, and dorm life as the weakest part of the experience rather than a selling point.
- Facilities look better than they function. The big fields, labs and sports infrastructure read impressively on paper, but students describe outdated or scarce equipment, with labs sometimes used as ordinary classrooms.
- Admissions and selectivity. Despite the means-blind, merit framing, some students feel intake has loosened and that ability to pay now weighs more heavily than it once did.
Leadership
Dr Jonathan Long
Location
Survey No: 1/1, Hardware Park, Maheshwaram Mandal, Hyderabad, Kurmalguda, Telangana 501510, India