GEMS: 'No panic' amid impact of expat job losses

SCHOOL NUMBERS: GEMS Education says enrolment figures are holding up well despite fears of the impact of job losses in the UAE.

A UAE schools chief said on Wednesday enrolment figures for next year were holding up but were being monitored "week by week", on concerns of heavy expatriate job losses.

Mounting redundancies in mainly construction and real estate has led to speculation that many parents will pull their children out of the school in June and return home.

Speaking at a media briefing on Wednesday, Professor Ralph Tabberer, chief of schools for GEMS Education, the largest private provider of education in the world which runs 26 school in the UAE, said that the amount of parents who had paid a fee towards next year or put their children down on a waiting list was "holding up" or was even "healthier" than previous terms.

But he said the true scale of children giving up their places at schools in Dubai would not be known until later in the summer.

“What people do is they put people down on a waiting list or they pay a fee towards next year which is an indication that they want a seat in the school,” Tabberer said.

“Those figures are holding up but in some areas are healthier than before so we have no reason to panic but we going to look at this week by week and month by month to see what the impact will be next year,” he added.

“Like any business in the UAE, we are not entirely sure about what is going to happen in Dubai.”

It comes after a report by Egyptian investment bank EFG-Hermes last month which said the population of Dubai could shrink 17 percent this year on widespread job losses in the region as the downturn bites.

Tabberer said at GEMS’ Asian schools in Dubai, which finished their academic year in March, enrollment increased.

Tabberer was the director general for schools at the Department for Children, Schools and Families in the UK until 2008. He was responsible for advising the UK government on educating policy affecting 22,000 schools.

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READERS' COMMENTS

Only 4 Schools rated outstanding
Posted by Steve, Dubai, UAE on Thursday 28 May 2009 at 13:53 UAE time


Well, that says it all. Their "Outstanding" probably equates to "Poor" in any developed country. Professor Tabberer and his ilk will soon come to realise that too few pupils will force him to close some of his sub-standard schools and bring these ridiculously high fees down.

But in true Dubai style, we would probably get less for paying more.

GEMS
Posted by Vijay, Dubai on Tuesday 19 May 2009 at 12:53 UAE time


Due to lack of good schools in dubai. This greedy group is charging parents up to their teeth for nothing extraordinary education. The sufferers are a small percentage that pay out of their own pocket rather than company funded. You get much better education in U.K. OR CANADA IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

GEMS teaches 'Indian' English.
Posted by IncidentFlux, Ajman, U.A.E. on Friday 15 May 2009 at 17:30 UAE time


Sadly my early education was at Varkey Group (now GEMS group) schools and most of their schools endup teaching Indian English, although I prefer American English. Took me a along time to get rid of that...

You'll find some examples on Wikipedia...

Indian English - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_English

Egs:

1. Giving Exam -- indicates that someone is appearing as an examination as a candidate, i.e. someone is taking the exams as per the correct English. In America, teachers are giving the exams, in India students are giving exams.

2. Taking Exam -- indicates that someone is conducting an examination as a teacher/instructure, i.e. someone is giving exams as per the correct English. In America, students take the exams, in India teachers/instructors take exams.

3. "Tell me": used when answering the phone, meaning "How can I help you?"

4. "tight slap" to mean "hard slap".

reply to TOPA, Dan & Ashish
Posted by Basavaraja, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates on Friday 15 May 2009 at 13:33 UAE time


Dan,

you are misreading my comment and forgot that as some one commented, we are Expat in UAE, not immigrants, the choice is yours.

TOPA,

your children are still going to the same schoo?l, means what? you have a choice to change but why you didn't do that, so far?

Ashish,

Thanks for correcting my english, the point is not my english, it is to do with your choice, nobody is forcing you, if your are forced to chose GEMS then it is your problem. Any correction, spelling mistakes welcome. You there is a saying 'Haathi ko chodke poonch pakadna' you are diverting the subject by correcting the english in a blog, by the way are you a English master.

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