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Time has Come for Schools to Change, Says Varkey

An empire built by founder and chairman, Sunny Varkey, and his parents over the last four decades, Gems Education is a legacy bound to be passed on to Varkey’s sons, the family’s third generation educators.

Nearly 85,000 students, 6,500 teachers and 100 schools later, the numbers are only rising globally.

The group’s schools in the United Arab Emirates charge anywhere between Dh5,000 to a whopping Dh100,000 per annum, depending on the school’s positioning and the ‘Gems difference’ it aims to create.

Like a hospitality business, Gems caters to different pockets, curricula, demographics and communities.

“When you look at the hotel industry, you find there are chains and we want to follow their pattern. We want to make Gems a global brand. When I took over, we had only a school catering to the Indian community.

“Once I started getting involved in the business, it was easy to get the real feel of the market and what the customer wants. We found there was a demand for British, American and Arabic curriculum,” says Varkey, seated in his plush office.

“Also being a person of entrepreneurial nature, I took the opportunity and went ahead and created different schools, price models. We now package education with hospitality and service. We are completely customer-driven and right from the beginning, the group has been different by charting its own course,” he adds.

If adidas is for shoes, Varkey dreams of a Gems brand that stands for education.

“When you are creating a brand, you are really setting the minimum standards expected. So, when parents send a child to a Gems school, they will, without doubt, get excellent value for money. We have the expertise and the scalability, without compromising on quality,” says the group’s brand-conscious head.

The recently-opened Gems World Academy, currently the most expensive Gems schools, has proved to be quite popular with Dubai’s parents.

“Despite the (school’s) fees being double, the numbers have touched more than 700 in the first year. That shows parents have got tremendous confidence in the brand and if we are not doing a good job, nobody will come to us. They say the proof of the pudding is in the eating,” says Varkey.

Long waiting lists and a clamour for admission to its schools, be it British, American or Indian curriculum, are regular features at most Gems schools.

“We want to make education fun and exciting and transform it from today’s traditionally dull ways. We see children get bored with the traditional science labs. We really want to make a difference on how we construct and run our schools. We want them to want to come to school every morning,” he says, observing that with technology and trained teachers, his schools can accomplish even this.

Acknowledging that teachers form the backbone of any educational institute, he admits the need for a rethink by authorities for an increase in the minimum wages paid to teachers.

“The salaries of teachers need to go up as salaries (of counterparts) in home countries have gone up.

“It is important and imperative that we increase the salaries to an amount, where we can recruit and retain our teachers.The ministry (of education) should look in to it and I would think Dh 3,000 or more is ideal,” says Varkey.

Currently, the minimum wage is Dh 2000.

Last year’s capping of fees by the education authorities in Dubai did not go down well with a number of schools including the Gems group.

“The cost of running schools has increased tremendously in the last four years. Even the cost of building a new school is astronomical. When we set up the Our Own English High Schools first, it cost about Dh 6 million.

“Today, it will cost anywhere between Dh130 and Dh170 million to put up the same school. You can’t run a school with Dh 3,000 a year fee anymore,” he says adding that they have been in talks with authorities.

Despite the numbers involved, the network does not discount opening more mid-market schools. It also has plans to provide day-boarding from next year.

“When both parents are working, we can keep the children much longer than what we do at the moment. They can complete their homework, take additional support and probably even provide vocational programmes.

“Obviously, there will be a cost element to it, but that will free parents to do other things,” he says.

In the next 25 years, the group is hoping to add 5,000 more schools or five million more children in its schools worldwide, whichever comes first.

Currently, its network of schools covers the sub-continent, Europe, UK, GCC and the Middle East.

“Everybody in the company has that in focus and we work towards that goal,” says a determined Varkey.

preeti@khaleejtimes.com

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