The Varkey Foundation, initially the Varkey GEMS Foundation, is the nonprofit arm of

GEMS Education GEMS Education, founded as Global Education Management Systems (GEMS), is an international education company. It is one of the world's largest private school operators, and as of late 2022 it operates more than 60 schools across the Middle East ...

, an education management company. It was formed in 2010 by Indian businessman

Sunny Varkey Sunny Varkey (born 9 April 1957)McNicholas, Mona Parikh; Raj, Frank. . ''The International Indian''. 2008: Issue 5, Volume 15.5. pp. 56–60. is an Indian education entrepreneur and philanthropist based in Dubai. He is the founder and executive ...

, GEMS chairman.Sunny Varkey
– Profile at ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

''. Retrieved 7 May 2015. The Varkey Foundation has partnered with a variety of major global organizations including

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

, and the

Clinton Global Initiative The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was e ...

. It gives out the Global Teacher Prize, a

million 1,000,000 (one million), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian ''millione'' (''milione'' in modern Italian), from ''mille'', "thousand", plus the ...

award.

History

The foundation was formed by

in 2010 as the philanthropic arm of

, and was initially called the Varkey GEMS Foundation. Its stated intention is to impact 100 impoverished children for every child enrolled at GEMS schools.

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

was involvement at the official launch of the foundation.Hamdan, Sara
"Building an Education Empire"
''Global Citizen''. July/August 2012.

is chairman of the Varkey Foundation. The foundation's trustees are Sunny Varkey, as well as his sons Dino and Jay Varkey. The foundation has a Teacher Training Programme in under-served communities.Coughlan, Sean
"The man behind the million-dollar teacher"
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

''. 5 May 2015. In 2013, the foundation launched the annual Global Education and Skills Forum, in partnership with

and the UAE Ministry of Education.Buller, Alice
"Exclusive Interview: GEMS Chairman Sunny Varkey Talks Profits And Philanthropy"
''Gulf Business''. 3 July 2013. Bill Clinton gave the inaugural keynote address at the 2013 summit. In October 2013, the foundation published the Global Teacher Status Index,Coughlan, Sean
"Teachers in China given highest level of public respect"
''

''. 14 October 2013. a 53-page study on the public and social status of teachers in 21 countries around the world.

Global Teacher Prize

In order to raise the status of teaching, at the second annual Global Education and Skills Forum in March 2014, the foundation launched the Global Teacher Prize, an annual $1 million award to an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession."Applications open for world’s first one million dollar teacher prize"
(press release). ''EducationandSkillsForum.org''. March 2014.

References

External links

Varkey Foundation
– Official site
Global Education & Skills Forum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Varkey Foundation Organizations established in 2010 International educational charities Child education organizations Educational foundations Educational charities based in the United Kingdom Foundations based in the United Kingdom Global Teacher Prize 2010 establishments in the United Kingdom