40 | GEMS WORLD ACADEMY cont. | INTERNATIONAL
“T
here’s no such thing as an easy business trip,” a friend of mine once
declared. For the main part, I’ve never agreed with him. While they can be gruelling, I am still of a childish enough disposition that I find airports and hotel breakfast buffets exciting. This particular trip, however, is testing my patience. I am on a tour of The Gulf region promoting a medical school applications course and in the last four days I have visited 15 schools in three countries. Today is a Wednesday so we must be in Dubai. Just to add to the fun, our driver has no idea where he is going, a sandstorm is about to hit town and we’ve run out of water. Believe it or not, my temper is shortening by the minute and my enthusiasm is starting to wane. That is when I see it. As we cross the part-desert, part-building site which makes up the outskirts of Dubai a mirage floats into view.
BELOW: the school library
A giant blue building shaped like a wave seems to be siting on a road in the middle of nowhere. We draw to a halt and I look up at the outside of Dubai’s singly most desirable school, GEMS World Academy. GEMS. While the name might
mean litle to parents here in the UK at the moment, the world’s largest school brand is a byword for quality and innovation across the globe. Its origins are a proper “dollar and a dream” story, starting from a single school opened by KS and Mariama Varkey to meet the needs of migrant families unable to access quality education in Dubai. Today the organisation, run by their son Sunny Varkey, has built, owns and runs schools in 19 countries. It also acts as consultants to governments on educational best practice. If that wasn’t quite enough, the Varkey GEMS Foundation was started in 2010 with the aim of helping some
ABOVE: the GEMS planetarium
ABOVE: students using the GEMS music recording studio
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