Gems Education, a leading education provider, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), have entered into a teacher training partnership agreement to raise the standards of teaching in the developing world.

With this, Dubai-based Gems Education has become the first education company in the world to partner with Unesco to improve teacher training.

“The shortage of quality teachers globally is one the biggest challenges we face in achieving the goal of Education for All,” said Irina Bokova, director general of Unesco.

“Without quality teachers for all, there is no education for all. Under this new partnership with Gems Education, which has over 50 years of experience, we will be aiming to take a giant leap towards closing the gap in the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom.”

Founder and chairman of Gems Education Sunny Varkey said, “Teachers create the leaders of tomorrow and I firmly believe that they are the real nation builders.  This agreement is an example of Gems offering the experience and expertise of our world-class educationists to influence how teachers are trained globally. Gems is also establishing teacher training colleges in India and the UAE.”

The agreement falls under the auspices of the Varkey Gems Foundation, a not for profit education foundation launched in December, 2010 with the goal of reaching 10 million underprivileged children globally.

Through the agreement, both parties will also seek to co-fund interventions in specific countries to improve teacher effectiveness by designing teacher training programmes that promote - especially - the advancement of girls in math, science and technology.

Top educationists from the Gems team will also provide strategic insight and exchange of expertise on teacher training and leadership development through a regular and structured dialogue with Unesco.

Vikas Pota, CEO of the Varkey Gems Foundation said, “In the presence of President Bill Clinton at the launch our Foundation, we committed to work strategically to tackle the twin challenges of promoting universal access to education, and also to raise the standard of classroom learning.”

“With respect to the latter, we believe that by focusing on teacher education and effectiveness, we raise the bar and promote better teaching standards. We look forward to working with Unesco to improve the lives of future generations by investing in the most critical resource and support to ensure global prosperity - our teachers,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service