GEMS Education celebrates its classroom heroes and heroines on World Teachers’ Day

• GEMS shines a light on its outstanding teachers after a year of challenges
• Schools delivered 28 million remote learning sessions during the lockdown
• Organisation’s schools awarded highest grading by distance learning body

Dubai, UAE: GEMS Education, the world’s leading provider of private education, is celebrating World Teachers’ Day by highlighting a selection of its outstanding teachers who go beyond the call of duty to make a difference to their students’ lives and wider community

GEMS Education prides itself on the prowess and diversity of more than 20,000 of its highly dedicated teachers, teaching support staff and school administrators from all nationalities, who deliver seven different curricula in 16 countries - from the Middle East, North America and Europe to Asia and Africa

World Teachers’ Day takes on a new significance this year as the world saw teaching move from classrooms to living rooms during the March-July lockdown, and the start of the new academic year was unlike any other with masks, social distancing and sanitisation stations becoming a new and necessary part of school life.

During the stay-at-home directive from March to July, GEMS Education students collectively attended more than 28 million remote learning sessions, proving that even a pandemic can’t stop GEMS teachers. The independent Distance Learning Evaluation recently gave all 43 GEMS Education schools in the UAE a ‘developed’ rating, its highest grade.

Jodh Singh Dhesi, Deputy Chief Education Officer, said: “This World Teachers’ Day we want to appreciate all of the phenomenal teaching staff at GEMS as well as teachers all over the world. This year, perhaps more than ever before, we have all seen how truly valuable, adaptable, and essential teachers are. Whether in the class, or teaching remotely, teachers will always be an essential part of every child’s life and learning experience – no one ever forgets a great teacher, and today we celebrate those great teachers.”

Ms Salwa Ibrahim, Arabic language teacher at Our Own English High School – Sharjah, said: “Teaching is more than a profession - it’s a vocation, a passion and a way of life. I can’t imagine doing anything else. I’ve stood by students and taught for over 30 years at GEMS and seeing the eyes of our young learners light up with curiosity and wonder as they discover new things never gets stale.”