Around 250,000 teachers across the world will be trained over the next 10 years in underserved communities by a UAE-based organisation and philanthropic arm of an NRI-led international education company based in Dubai.
Under the agreement, the philanthropic arm of GEMS Education, the Varkey GEMS Foundation (VGF), and the UAE-based philanthropic organisation, Dubai Cares, will launch a country-based teacher-training intervention that will boost the standard of classroom teaching.
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 to March 17.
According to UNESCO, around 57 million primary school children are out of school along with more than 71 million lower-secondary school-aged 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.
“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,” said Tariq Al Gurg, CEO of Dubai Cares.
An estimated 7 million new teachers will be needed over the next two decades to serve the growing global population.