[1] Founded in Dubai by Sunny Varkey, the firm provides pre-school, primary, and secondary education.

GEMS Education had its roots in a family tutoring business in Dubai started by Indian-born teachers Mariama and K.S.

[2] The discovery of oil in Dubai in 1966 brought in many foreign workers to the undeveloped emirate, including many from the Indian subcontinent.

With the increased demand for an English-language education for the children of Indian expatriates, the Varkeys founded Our Own English High School in Dubai in 1968.

[8][9][10] In June 2024, SOFAZ (The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan) announced to invest US$100 million into GEMS education.

[13] In 2003, he began opening GEMS schools in England, beginning with Sherborne House in Hampshire and Bury Lawn in Milton Keynes.

[5] It continued to add schools in the subcontinent, and also purchased a controlling interest in the India-based Everonn Education, which the Varkey Group and GEMS managed.

[18] In 2012, it became a Global Growth Company 'Partner', entitling it to attend the World Economic Forum's flagship annual meeting in Davos.

[14][28] The more expensive schools have spacious grounds and amenities such as golf and tennis facilities, as well as smaller class sizes.

[6] According to the company, its schools aim to instill students with universal values, and to form graduates who are global citizens with leadership qualities.

[7][14] The company states that the schools aim to equip children to live in a multicultural environment, and stresses the importance of giving back to others both locally and globally.

[36] In Ghana, the consultancy implemented MGCubed – Making Ghana Girls Great – which equipped two classrooms in each Ghanaian primary school with a computer, projector, satellite modem, and solar panels, creating an interactive distance-learning platform to deliver formal in-school teaching and informal after-school training.

Basing its analysis on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores, the study also detailed teacher salaries and class sizes in nationwide schools.

[52] Following its initial years catering mainly to immigrant Indian workers, GEMS grew rapidly in Dubai.

The firm adapted with schools for each demographic, varying and adding new curricula and price ranges for each income level and nationality.

[54] As of 2012, GEMS schools overall in the UAE were reported to have had a general reputation for high-quality academic outcomes, outscoring national testing averages[56] and out-performing originating counterparts in official international curricula examinations,[33][53][57] and nearly all students continued on to university.

[58][59] Winners of the prize, now called the Emirates Innovative Teacher Award, are announced annually in February at the Government Summit.

[72] The British curriculum school will specialise in Artificial Intelligence, and its facilities include an Olympics-standard 50M swimming Pool.

[76] In 2012, GEMS opened The World Academy in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) in Saudi Arabia.

[87][88][89] GEMS subsequently withdrew from plans to sponsor two academies, or state-funded independent schools, in Milton Keynes.

[99] At that time in 2004 GEMS acquired a total of 10 schools, seven of them in northern England, from Nord Anglia, which had re-focused on its nursery-school business.

[102] In 2007 GEMS announced the sale of Kingswood College in Lancashire to developers, citing the high costs of maintaining its premises, Scarisbrick Hall, a historic 19th-century Grade I listed building;[103] local supporters purchased it and kept it open as a school.

The school is set in an 8.3-acre campus in Smart City and offers an International Baccalaureate syllabus as well as the Cambridge curriculum.

[143][144] In 2013, the company sought a location to build a school on the Upper East Side of New York City; proceedings were eventually abandoned amidst litigation relating to property contracts.

[145] In the early 2010s, the firm's consultancy arm, GEMS Education Solutions, partnered in managing some U.S. schools.

[149] Results, as with many SIG recipients from 2010 to 2012, were mixed;[150][149][151] in August 2012, the company declined to renew its contract with one school district.

[152] The combined partnership company also sponsored two new charter schools in Ohio called Believe to Achieve Academies beginning in the fall of 2012; they closed in late June 2014 due to inability to meet enrollment goals.

[163][164] The company operated GEMS World Academy (Singapore), its first school in Southeast Asia, from September 2014 to June 2021.