GEMS to open ten new schools in Dubai

Dubai’s GEMS Education said it plans to open ten new schools in the emirate over the next two years in order to meet growing demand for places.

In a statement issued on Monday, GEMS said the new schools will have British, Indian, International Baccalaureate, American and dual curricula across a range of fee levels.

The firm will additionally open a leadership academy and a teacher training centre. GEMS did not provide any indication how much investment was required for the projects or where in the emirate the new schools would be located.

“With continued global demand for quality education GEMS Education is implementing a long-term growth strategy,” said executive director Dino Varkey.

 “This will involve the expansion of capacity across all our curricula and price points in the UAE, an increased focus on new schools and partnerships across the GCC and expansion globally in those markets with very positive underlying demand dynamics for a broad range of private education models,” he added.

A report published by Alpen Capital earlier in 2012 forecast that the total number of students in the GCC is expected to rise to 11.6m by 2016, over 1m more than last year.

By 2016, the region is likely to have a total of 51,450 schools; out of which 20.6 percent will be private schools.