Awards instituted in honour of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak for her contributions to the empowerment of UAE women

Dubai, April 27, 2011: His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, UAE Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, today, awarded the Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak Award for Excellence to 28 girls from the GEMS network of schools across the Middle East and India.   

The seventh annual award includes a scholarship to cover a year's tuition fee at a GEMS school and a memento. The Awards were started by GEMS in 2005 to honour Her Highness Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, wife of late President His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, for her contributions to the empowerment of the UAE women, and her support for excellence in all areas. The event acknowledges Her Highness' role as mother of the nation, and her vision to celebrate, and support women's achievements and self determination.

The award has traditionally recognized young women from GEMS Schools in the UAE. Since 2009, the award has been extended to all female students from GEMS Schools around the Middle East and India.  Two young women from Qatar, one from Jordan and India each attended today's award ceremony. 

These outstanding girls were nominated by their schools and were chosen based on outstanding academic success, significant contribution to environmental concerns, high level of commitment to the communities they live in and their demonstration of world citizenship.

GEMS Founder and Chairman Sunny Varkey congratulated the students, parents and teachers, and urged the winners to pursue excellence in all their future endeavours. "I congratulate these young girls for their exceptional academic achievements and their significant contributions to their schools and the community."

"Sheikha Fatima Awards celebrate promising students in our schools and encourages them to maintain their social commitment as well as academic and extra curricular excellence. We are committed to promoting talent and supporting our youth for their contributions to the society," Varkey added.

The Award is another example of the commitment by GEMS Schools to recognize and celebrate the achievements of GEMS Students, while providing them with quality education.

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About GEMS Education:
GEMS Education has a global network of world class international schools. With 50 years of experience in education, GEMS provides high quality holistic education to over 100,000 students from 150 countries. It employs over 9,000 education professionals, specialists and staff from around the world. The GEMS approach to learning focuses not only on academic excellence, but also in helping students develop their character and creativity so that they achieve their full potential as human beings.  The GEMS Education school model is unique in the world because it offers a broad range of curricula across a range of tuition fees making private education more accessible to the broader community. GEMS Education also supports Governments' education reform agenda by working with Ministries of Education to lift school performance and improve the standards and expertise of government schools across the globe. GEMS Education has offices in the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, India and Singapore.

For more information, please contact:
Margaret Flanagan/ Chandan Belani
ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller
Tel: (+971) 4 33 44550
Email: m.flanagan@asdaa.com / c.belani@asdaa.com

© Press Release 2011