GEMS Education, one of the oldest and largest Kindergarten to Grade 12/ Year 13 private education providers in the world, celebrated its annual awareness day with the launch of two new schools in the United Arab Emirates. Founded in 1959, the expansion takes the number of GEMS schools in the UAE to 44. The company runs schools in North Africa, Asia, Europe and North America as well.

GEMS Awareness Day (GAD) is an annual event, which celebrates the enrollment of new teachers into the GEMS family. GAD saw the induction of more than 1,850 new teachers from 57 nationalities.

Sunny Varkey, founder, who presided over the event, spoke on the importance of teachers in an ever-challenging, fast-changing world. “There is something I have learnt – in the end, everything comes down to one thing: communication. It is the foundation upon which we build trust. We must connect with parents, engage with students, and your fellow teachers to understand each other’s needs and share ideas,” said Varkey.

As an internationally recognised employer of choice, GEMS attracts educators from around the world. Many of this year’s recruits are from the UK, India, and Egypt.

Since the launch of an award-winning Emiratisation programme by the school in 2022, about 790 Emirati nationals have joined GEMS in support of the UAE government’s strategy.

The opening of the two schools this international academic year – one in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, and another in Dubai South – is to meet the existing demand for quality education.

The theme for this year’s GAD was ‘Wellbeing’. In line with that, the event highlighted many initiatives that GEMS is carrying out to ensure that all its teachers and non-teaching staff have a network of support. – editor@nrifocus.com