GEMS celebrates Dubai’s rise into the global education top ten as students deliver world-leading PISA performance

GEMS celebrates Dubai’s rise into the global education top ten as students deliver world-leading PISA performance

GEMS students record PISA 2025 scores of 545 in science, 533 in mathematics and 527 in reading, helping reinforce Dubai’s position among the world’s top-performing education systems

Dubai, UAE – Dubai’s private schools have entered the global top 10 across every domain assessed in PISA 2025, marking a major milestone for the emirate’s education system and delivering a key ambition of the Dubai Education 33 Strategy.

Within this strong city-wide performance, students across participating GEMS Education schools achieved results significantly above both Dubai and UAE averages. Dubai’s private schools now rank sixth globally in reading and eighth in both mathematics and science.

The GEMS Education results place their performance firmly alongside the world’s highest-performing education systems in the top 5 and top 3 globally:

•      GEMS students achieved an average score of 533 in mathematics, 70 points above the OECD average and 80 points above the UAE average, a level that would place GEMS among the top five globally.

•      GEMS students secured 545 in science, 63 points above the OECD average and 87 points above the UAE average, placing their performance at a level comparable with the top three education systems internationally.

•      GEMS recorded 527 in reading, 66 points above the OECD average and 94 points above the UAE average, placing performance at a level comparable with the top three globally.

As participating GEMS schools form part of the UAE’s PISA results, their strong performance also contributes positively to the national averages across all three domains.

The results demonstrate the contribution of GEMS students to Dubai’s overall performance and the impact that sustained academic rigour, exceptional educators and a culture of high expectations and continuous improvement across a diverse, multi-curriculum network can deliver at scale.

Dubai’s private schools have made significant gains since PISA 2022, rising from 13th to sixth globally in reading, ninth to eighth in mathematics and 14th to eighth in science. Across six PISA cycles since 2009, Dubai’s private-school average scores have increased by 37 points in mathematics, 22 points in reading and 36 points in science.

Dino Varkey, Group Chief Executive Officer, GEMS Education, said: “Dubai’s PISA performance is a result the entire education community can be proud of. To see Dubai enter the global top 10 across all three core domains is a powerful reflection of the extraordinary vision of the UAE’s leadership, the ambition of Dubai’s Education 33 Strategy and KHDA’s determination to create an education ecosystem in which schools, educators and young people can flourish.”

“As one of Dubai’s longstanding education partners, GEMS is immensely proud to play its part. Our responsibility is to translate the nation’s ambition into exceptional experiences and outcomes for students every day.”

Lisa Crausby, Chief Education Officer, GEMS Education, said: “PISA is valuable because it looks at how students apply what they know to real-world problems. These results give us confidence that the combination of strong teaching, subject knowledge and high expectations is making a difference. Our PISA results reflect a clear promise: every child will read fluently, build deep knowledge and apply it skillfully. Through our ambitious, knowledge-rich curriculum and exceptional teachers, students are prepared not only to succeed today, but to shape the future.”

“Our focus now is on using these findings to strengthen teaching further, share effective practice across our schools and ensure that more students can achieve at this level.”

The results come against a challenging global backdrop. The OECD reported that average performance across OECD countries reached its lowest-ever levels in mathematics and reading in PISA 2025, with more than 760,000 students across 91 countries and economies participating.

Against that context, Dubai’s sustained progress is particularly significant. The emirate’s private schools have improved across all three core PISA domains since 2022, while Emirati students also recorded substantial gains, improving by an average of 31 points in mathematics, 30 points in science and 18 points in reading.

For Dubai, the PISA results provide a significant international benchmark for the progress achieved under Education 33. For GEMS, they provide both recognition and responsibility.

“Dubai has raised the bar. We are proud to be helping raise it again.”, added Dino Varkey.

ENDS

Note on methodology: The PISA 2025 results involved approximately 9,600 students from 168 private schools in Dubai and more than 760,000 students worldwide across more than 90 countries and economies. The GEMS figures reflect the performance of the 1,449 students from our 23 Dubai schools who participated in the programme and are compared against OECD and national averages.

About GEMS Education

GEMS Education is one of the world’s leading, oldest and largest private K-12 education providers, with a legacy spanning more than 65 years. Founded in the UAE with roots dating back to 1959, and beginning with a single school in a private home in Dubai in 1968, GEMS remains a family-founded and family-led organisation, guided by its visionary Founder and Chairman, Sunny Varkey, and his sons Dino Varkey, Group Chief Executive Officer, and Jay Varkey, Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer.

Today, GEMS educates more than 200,000 students from over 176 nationalities through its global network of owned and managed schools, supported by more than 17,700 employees, including over 10,000 educators and school leaders representing 112 nationalities. Having educated more than 500,000 students over the decades, GEMS continues to provide world-class education through four curricula, preparing young people with the knowledge, character and confidence to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Guided by its enduring mission to put a quality education within the reach of every learner, everywhere, GEMS combines academic rigour with character development, wellbeing, innovation and strong partnerships with families and communities. Its graduates progress to the world’s leading universities, with students accepted into more than 2,000 universities across 71 countries over the past five years, including all eight Ivy League universities in the US and all 24 Russell Group universities and colleges in the UK.

In the last four years alone, more than 3,500 GEMS graduates have attended the world’s top 100 universities, over 2,200 have progressed to Russell Group universities, almost 2,000 have enrolled at the world’s top 50 universities, and more than 60 have gone on to Ivy League institutions.

Through its expanding network and philanthropic initiatives, GEMS continues to create opportunities for young people to become leaders, innovators and positive changemakers in their communities and beyond.