Currently operating more than 200 schools and educational programmes, AKES provides quality pre-school, primary and secondary education services to students in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The foundations of the present system were laid by Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan, III, who established over 200 schools during the first half of the 20th century, the first in 1905 in Mundra and Gwadar in South Asia, and in Zanzibar in East Africa. Today AKES schools and programmes benefit over 85,000 students.