An international schools group has announced a global “AI hub” that will allow external partners to use anonymised data from across its 90-plus schools.
GEMS Education, which has around 200,000 students and 15,000 teaching staff, says the move will “elevate how students learn and how schools function”.
It is inviting enquiries from potential partners interested in working with the Dubai-based AI hub and what GEMS describes as a “real-world testing ground across billions of data points”.
Baz Nijjar, GEMS’ vice-president for education technology and digital innovation, said that the data involved will include attainment, attendance, behaviour, wellbeing and student engagement.
‘Secure data ecosystem’
He also said that the approach would proceed “without compromising student or staff privacy”, adding: “This is an ongoing programme and only by adhering to our guidelines and rules would we accept any additional access [to data], but it will still remain within our secure data ecosystem.”
Mr Nijjar said that GEMS “adheres strictly to international best practices, and UAE data-privacy laws”.
He added: “All data collected will be securely managed, anonymised appropriately and hosted on secure, certified platforms. We prioritise ethical AI use, ensuring any student data remains confidential and protected at all times.”
GEMS would ensure, he said, that access to data “will only be within our controlled and regulated environment”, through use, for example, of a “” it had created.
Partners selected for the initiative will work with the GEMS School of Research and Innovation, its “AI-enabled school” that opens in August. Mr Nijjar believes that AI’s “immense” potential in education can only be realised if it is “built responsibly and evaluated where it matters most: with students and teachers”.
He suggested that tech innovators - whether working on “a tutoring engine, a wellbeing algorithm or an operational platform” - would be attracted by the offer of “the infrastructure and access you need to make it real and make it scale”.
Mr Nijjar said: “We’re currently engaging in active discussions with several respected researchers, prominent universities, research institutions and AI-enabled edtech companies, and anticipate announcing the first wave of confirmed partners shortly as they go through a vetting process, and to ensure the potential outcomes are meaningful.”
The range of partners envisaged by GEMS also includes “social ventures focused on equity and access”.
Helping edtech innovation
The group said that through “billions of unique data points, spanning multiple curricula and geographies, partners will have an unprecedented opportunity to pilot and refine their innovations in live, diverse classroom environments”.
Sunny Varkey, chairman and founder of GEMS Education, said: “AI has the power to elevate how students learn and how schools function - but only if it is designed with care, ethics and deep understanding of real-world classrooms.”
In May GEMS announced that it would introduce “custom-built AI agents” in classrooms, in a push to improve “fluency” in artificial intelligence across all school subjects.
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