Nahayan launches new GEMS global movement
THE INITIATIVE SEEKS TO STRENGTHEN FAMILY VALUES
For the last 65 years, GEMS Education has been putting ‘Family First’ at the heart of its teaching, and yesterday the UAE’s largest private education provider announced plans to incorporate this core principle in a new movement for global change while supporting the UAE leadership’s agenda for social change.
The initiative was launched at GEMS World Academy — Dubai by Shaikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, UAE Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence. The movement for positive change will help GEMS underpin its longestablished holistic classroom learning for students across its school network in a groundbreaking new programme.
Shaikh Nahayan lauded the initiative, recognising the vital role families play in fostering peace, tolerance, and prosperity in society. “Family is the most important building block of a peaceful, tolerant, and prosperous society. Your work will help families promote values such as peace, tolerance, fraternity, nonviolence, as well as personal and collective growth and achievement,” he said.
Plans for Family First activations in 2024 include a survey on family values, a monthly TED Talk-style discussion on different aspects of family support led by leading experts and proponents from around the world, and an end-of-year gala event to celebrate stories that encapsulate Family First principles.
All 44 GEMS schools in the UAE and Qatar has already appointed a staff member as a Family First ‘Champion’ to spearhead individual school activities based on family values from kindergarten years upwards. This will range from emphasising the importance of strong ethical behaviour in an Islamic or Moral Studies class, to interviewing an elderly Emirati grandparent about growing up in the UAE during the 1950s or 1960s.
Your work will help families promote values such as peace, tolerance, fraternity, non-violence, as well as personal and collective growth and achievement.”
Shaikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahyan | UAE Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence