GEMS Education extends helping hands to support to hundreds of families in distress. The organisation’s COVID-19 Relief Package will benefit more than 20,000 students across the GEMS network.
The Relief Package was designed to support families that have been adversely impacted by the Coronavirus outbreak by providing meaningful and immediate relief in the form of tuition fee discounts for the current term.
It offers relief for term three tuition fees to those parents who have experienced income reductions, lost their jobs or businesses, or been placed on unpaid leave and who therefore now have limited means to settle tuition fees during this period of uncertainty. In all cases, the relief will be in excess of the typical blanket discounts offered by other UAE schools – typically 20 per cent and, in some cases of extreme hardship, discounts of 50% or more.
“The Relief Package received thousands of applications from parents in just a matter of days, and GEMS Education teams have been working around the clock to process these in the shortest time possible and share with parents the level of tuition fee relief they will benefit from,” said Dino Varkey, Chief Executive Officer at GEMS Education. “We are directing assistance to parents who have lost a part of their income or their jobs entirely, as well as parents who are self-employed and have suffered business disruption. We firmly believe that this targeted approach is more equitable and effective in helping those who have been most impacted, enabling us to make a more meaningful difference.
“The move to remote learning was unexpected and unprecedented – not only for the GEMS community, but for the majority of schools around the world. Our teachers and education leaders are putting a tremendous amount of time and effort into providing the highest quality remote learning for all our students. Protecting our teaching and academic staff is critical to ensure that when we resume normal operations, our schools, our people and the quality of provision remain intact.
“As such, we are proud that all our teachers will continue to be paid in full as they work tirelessly to provide the best quality education to our students so they can continue to learn and graduate to the next semester or academic year. We are also immensely proud of and grateful to the many GEMS medical staff who have selflessly volunteered to assist the government in the fight against Coronavirus and who are working on the frontlines to help keep us all safe.
“We would like to offer our sincere gratitude to all parents for their understanding and cooperation. We acknowledge the efforts that you are making as parents to support your children with their education in these challenging times – and we thank you for it. Thank you also to the overwhelming majority of our parents who have already paid their children’s tuition fees. In line with regulatory guidelines, tuition fees must be paid to ensure students continue to access remote learning and progress to the next Year or Grade.
“Our priority remains the delivery of the best education possible during this challenging period – an education that assures the academic success, well-being, health and happiness of our students.”
GEMS Education is one of the world’s oldest and largest K-12 private education providers. It is a highly-regarded choice for quality private education in the Middle East and North Africa region. As a company founded in the UAE in 1959, it holds an unparalleled track-record of providing diverse curricula and educational choices to all socio-economic means. GEMS Education now owns and operates 66 schools and educates over 130,000 students in the MENA region; and through its growing network of schools is fulfilling the founder’s vision of putting a quality education within the reach of every child.