GEMS Students win 13 Education Awards for Outstanding Academic Excellence

Press release

Published April 24th, 2012 - 09:24 GMT

Al Bawaba

Today ten GEMS students and a teacher have been honoured with the prestigious Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Distinguished Academic Performance. With only 74 awards in the student category, this is the largest number of GEMS students ever to receive the award.

GEMS teacher Rana Khaleel, from the GEMS Wellington Academy, Silicon Oasis, has won in the best project category. GEMS student winners are from Grade 5 to Grade 11, with three recipients from The Millennium School, Dubai, two students each from Our Own English High School, Sharjah, and Our Own English High School, Dubai and one student each from The Kindergarten Starters, GEMS Wellington International School, and Our Own English High School, Abu Dhabi.

Simran Vedyas and Disha Bobby from The Millennium School, Dubai and Vrinda Shah, from Our Own English High School, Sharjah, have also been honoured with the prestigious Sharjah Educational Award for Outstanding Performance for Academic Excellence, this year. This is also the second time Simran has received this award.

Simran commented: “Being named winner twice for both of these awards is an overwhelming experience for me. I am thankful to my principal and to all the teachers for their trust and immeasurable support to me and my endeavors.” Simran previously received both these awards in 2009.

Margaret Atack, Group Senior Director, GEMS Education, says: “We are proud of the accomplishments of our students. The Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Distinguished Academic Performance and Sharjah Educational Award for Outstanding Performance for Academic Excellence – are of particular importance to GEMS schools, because of their rigour in evaluating outstanding performance. GEMS students across the UAE are a fine example of what the youth of the region are capable of achieving.”

Currently in its fourteenth edition, the Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Distinguished Academic Performance has been designed to recognise academic achievements, talents, skills and leadership abilities across a variety of disciplines. Since the award’s inception in 1998, millions of dirhams have been awarded to students, families and academic professionals in recognition of their significant contributions to the UAE. In addition to the award itself, each of the recipients was awarded AED 25,000 this year.

Background Information

GEMS Education

In 1959, two teachers, KS Varkey and his wife Mariamma, arrived in Dubai.

At the time, Dubai was a burgeoning trade centre on the Arabian Gulf. The Varkey family had left Kerala, India to seek a better life for their family. What they found was a real need to educate children arriving in the city from around the world.

Their son, Sunny, added a visionary’s ambition to a practitioner's experience. From simple roots in a family of teachers, GEMS Education, is today an international company with schools and education services across the Middle East. We still share the same mission - to provide a quality education to everyone.