Dubai Cares has entered into a strategic agreement with the Varkey GEMS Foundation to train and develop teachers across the developing world.
Under the agreement, The Varkey GEMS Foundation (VGF) and Dubai Cares will launch a country-based teacher-training intervention that will seek to boost the standards of classroom teaching. The Varkey GEMS Foundation is the philanthropic arm of international education provider GEMS Education. The organization believes that the greatest impact on students can be achieved through improving the quality of teaching. The VGF Teacher Training Programme has committed to train 250,000 teachers over the next 10 years in underserved communities across the world.
This partnership directly impacts Dubai Cares vision of breaking the cycle of poverty by ensuring all children have access to quality primary education as well as the VGFs vision of impacting one hundred children for every single child enrolled at a GEMS school throughout the world.
The agreement was signed at the Global Education and Skills Forum, the foremost gathering on education and education policy held in Dubai from March 15-17.
According to UNESCO, around 57 million primary schoolaged children are out of school along with more than 71 million lower-secondary schoolaged children. And for those children who do attend a school in the developing world, a lack of trained teachers often acts as a barrier to learning. The world is waking up to the economic opportunities that are offered by an educated population that is essential to tackle poverty and accelerate economic development. Improving the quality of teaching is more urgent than ever and directly impacts student outcomes, socially, emotionally and academically.
This agreement will significantly boost the Varkey GEMS effort to train thousands of teachers and raise the standard of education for millions of school children around the world. It aims to show that dramatic change can be made with limited and smart interventions. Dubai Cares support will go a long way to making that happen.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Cares said: The Varkey GEMS Foundation is a long term supporter of Dubai Cares and the cause of education at large. Here we are today joining hands to train and develop teachers across the developing world. At Dubai Cares, we believe that teacher training is the cornerstone of ensuring quality education. Through the implementation of integrated, impactful, evidence-based and sustainable primary education programs by forging strategic partnerships such as this, we aim to create positive impact in the lives of underprivileged children globally, their families, communities and economies.

An estimated 7 million new teachers will be needed over the next two decades to serve a growing global population. VGF is dedicated to improving the quality of education through systemic efforts to boost teacher preparedness and raise the social standing of teachers in the modern information age.

The Varkey GEMS foundation has shown how a focused programme leveraging new technologies and a focus on training teachers can yield major results, said Vikas Pota, CEO of Varkey GEMS. At some schools, we have helped raise test scores to their highest levels thanks to the support of Dubai Cares which will help us build on that success and expand our programmes further and across other nations.