Photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Imran Mojib, Special Correspondent

More than 20,000 students across the Gems Education network have benefitted from the COVID-19 Relief Package, designed to support families that have been adversely impacted by the Coronavirus outbreak by providing meaningful and immediate relief in the form of tuition fee discounts for the current term.

The Relief Package offers relief for Term 3 tuition fees to those parents who have experienced income reductions, lost their jobs or businesses, or been placed on unpaid leave and who therefore now have limited means to settle tuition fees during this period of uncertainty. In all cases, the relief will be in excess of the typical blanket discounts offered by other UAE schools – typically 20 per cent and, in some cases of extreme hardship, discounts of 50 per cent or more.

Dino Varkey, Chief Executive Officer at Gems Education, said that the Relief Package received thousands of applications from parents in just a matter of days, and Gems Education teams have been working around the clock to process these in the shortest time possible and share with parents the level of tuition fee relief they will benefit from.

“We are directing assistance to parents who have lost a part of their income or their jobs entirely, as well as parents who are self-employed and have suffered business disruption. We firmly believe that this targeted approach is more equitable and effective in helping those who have been most impacted, enabling us to make a more meaningful difference.

 “We would like to offer our sincere gratitude to all parents for their understanding and cooperation. We acknowledge the efforts that you are making as parents to support your children with their education in these challenging times – and we thank you for it. Thank you also to the overwhelming majority of our parents who have already paid their children’s tuition fees. In line with regulatory guidelines, tuition fees must be paid to ensure students continue to access remote learning and progress to the next Year or Grade.