(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Published: Tuesday, August 20, 2024 3:25 PM
Last updated: Tuesday, August 20, 2024, 8:46 p.m.
The United Arab Emirates’ largest private school operator has hired around 2,000 teachers from 57 countries as part of preparations for the new academic year.
This was revealed by Dino Varkey, group CEO, Gems Education, who said at a media roundtable in Dubai on Tuesday: “We have recruited 1,850 new teachers, which is slightly less than the number of teachers we recruited last year because we have been successful in retaining our staff.”
His comments were made on the sidelines of the group’s annual Gems Awareness Day, which welcomes new teachers to the group. He said most of the new teachers are British, followed by educators from India and Egypt.
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To meet growing demand, the group will be adding new seats in some schools as well as opening two new schools for students. “We will be opening Gems Founders branches in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi and Dubai South,” Varkey said. “The Founders model has been very successful and demand is growing.”
Dino Varkey (Photo provided)
Speaking to Khaleej Times, he further explained that there are several reasons for the school’s success: “The tuition fees are about $8,000 (around 30,000 dirhams) per year,” he said. “Part of it is the affordability, and part of it is the niche market that many families can attend. The school has found its market over the past seven years. Its rating has also risen to ‘very good.'”
The new school brings the number of schools Gems operates in the UAE to 44. Sources said the plan to open a school in South Dubai was in response to growing demand. “We’ve seen a lot of demand from the region,” said Dr Saima Rana, deputy CEO of Gems Education. “We saw thousands of parents flock to the school for its open day last weekend.”
Gems Founders Dubai South will start with 500 students and is expected to eventually accommodate more than 4,000, while Mizar will start with 1,000 students and has plans to expand to more than double its initial size.
Expansion Plans
One of the schools adding extra places this year is Gems World Academy, which opened a new building for its senior school. “The new site is very close to the existing building,” says Dr Rana. “It will cater for years 9 to 12. This will increase the school’s capacity by 1,200. We knew there would be demand, as last year we had a very long waiting list of students, so we decided to add more places to meet this demand.”
Dr. Saima Rana
Places have also been added at several other schools in the GEMS group, increasing the group’s overall capacity to 4,200. By the start of the new term next week, the group’s enrolment is expected to exceed 140,000.
“Back to the starting point”
For some of the new teachers, this is their first experience in Dubai, while for others it feels like coming home. Maths teacher Martin Green arrived in Dubai last week to take up his post as Head of Department at Gems Cambridge International Private School in Sharjah. “This is my first time working in the UAE and I’m really excited to be here,” he said. “I’ve worked in the UK for the last eight years and I’m excited to be able to use my expertise here.”
Meanwhile, for Jordanian teacher Rana, it felt like a homecoming. A graduate of Gems Cambridge International School Dubai, Rana grew up in the UAE and moved to Jordan after graduating. “After 14 years, I’m back where I started,” said the English teacher. “It’s interesting to enjoy my teaching experience here. I teach students from grades 9 to 12 and I’m really looking forward to interacting with these teenagers at such an important time in their lives. I hope to learn as much from them as they learn from me.”
Varkey also revealed that the group received 600,000 applications in the past 12 months. “Of this, we hired 2,000 teachers last year,” he said. “That means just 0.3% of applicants were successfully hired.”
According to him, apart from basic knowledge of the subject, it was his love for children and his willingness to impart knowledge that made him successful in his application as a teacher.
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