Dubai: Global Indian International School (GIIS), one of Asia's leading and Singapore's biggest international schools, is opening its first campus in Dubai from this April with a promise to outshine five-star infrastructure with quality education.
The GIIS Dubai campus is located in Mankool, Bur Dubai, and applications for admissions for the academic year 2010 will be received after the first open house to be held on December 19. GIIS will offer curriculum with a choice of Montessori (KG1 and KG2), ISC (Indian School Certificate, ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) and IB (International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.)
Maneesh Tripathi, CEO and Director General of GIIS, which is the biggest pan-Asian educational institution with 21 campuses spread across Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, India and United States, said the focus of his Dubai venture is not how flashy the tiles are but how good the education is.
No star points
"We know that there are people who sell five-star and seven-star schools based on Olympic size swimming pools and athletics track. We sell our schools based on how good an education we offer that can convert a child into a global citizen," Tripathi said at a press conference yesterday.
GIIS was established in 2002 by the Singapore-based non-profit Global Indian Foundation. In Dubai, GIIS is established in association with Score Plus Education, a education holding group that owns and operates 14 training centres in the UAE, India, Kuwait and Qatar.
"The school will initially provide classes from Kindergarten to Grade 6, with two new grades added every subsequent academic year up till Grade 12," said Kamal Kalwani, Managing Director & CEO of Score Plus Education that will run GIIS Dubai.
"GIIS will offer a day boarding school — where homework, group work, and sports are completed under the supervision of teachers within school hours," added Kalwani.
The school claims to offer world-class facilities such as smart-technology enabled learning environment, state-of-the-art laboratories, excellent teacher-to-student ratio enabling personalised attention as well as experienced faculty. In addition, the school will have a Global Indian Cultural Centre (GICC) set up in the campus.
Fee regulations
Winsten Gomez will be the principal of the new school. Tripathi said by establishing his footprint in Dubai, he aspires to bring in the GIIS experience and quality to the region and change the educational landscape.
And as an investor, Tripathi said he is not discouraged by the fee regulations set by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority of Dubai.
"We will work in coordination with the local government, and we are not against fee regulations that will ensure affordability for parents. As long as it does not stifle the education process, regulations can work in our favour," noted Tripathi.
He added that one of the Group's prime focuses will be on attracting the best pool of teachers by raising the bar on teachers' salaries.
