At GEMS World Academy in Dubai, preschoolers have access to iPads and students spend time in the school’s 70-seat planetarium. All of this comes at a price: costs that can run as high as $33,000 in Grade 12.
It’s the most expensive in a chain run by Dubai’s GEMS Education, one of the world’s largest private school operators. Founded by Indian-born billionaire Sunny Varkey, GEMS caters to all budgets, starting at just $3,900 a year. But a boom in the emirate’s financial sector has made Dubai home to a growing population of hedge-fund traders and bankers willing to pay premiums.
Private schools are big business worldwide — and they tend to be pricey in most major hubs. In the U.K., for example, Nord Anglia Education tried to sell a stake at a $15 billion valuation. But Dubai is more lucrative than comparable schools because local regulations make the city’s public schools largely inaccessible to most expats.
