“We aspire to prepare students for moral, healthy, productive, and successful lives.” This is the mantra that Global Indian International School (GIIS) Abu Dhabi follows to ensure that the students learn thoroughly and fulfil their career goals efficaciously.
Driven by the vision to become a global role model for teaching and learning, GIIS was established in 2002. Its campus sprawls across an area of 191,435sq ft (17,785-meter square) to provide students with a wide variety of advanced facilities and learning spaces. The school’s classrooms have been specially designed to allow sufficient natural sunlight as well as to facilitate good ventilation. The AUH campus has been established and upgraded, keeping in mind the special attention needed to design indoor and outdoor activity centres – they are built to ensure smooth and free movement of students between various facilities. GIIS AUH offers young learners a wide spectrum of spaces that have been carefully developed to ensure high-quality campus life for students who come together to grow a multi-cultural, diverse environment. The GIS campus offers a perfect blend between natural surroundings and modern facilities to remain resource efficient while providing wellness, positive experiences, and holistic learning to the global citizens of tomorrow.
GIIS has a very unique and dynamic educational framework. It follows the 9GEMS Model, aimed at fostering overall development through an integrated and holistic approach to learning. The school’s framework lays special focus on these nine areas of growth for students –
Sports Excellence – Focus on building physical strength, mental toughness, character, and collaborative nature through physical activity.
Visual and Performing Arts – A skills-based education programme where students get the apparatus and the guidance to enhance their inherent talents or learn a new skill.
Personality Development – Variety of well-designed programmes like critical thinking, sports, social contribution, self-expression, and meditation.
Innovation and Creativity – Nurturing creativity in students by mapping their interest areas, identifying their competencies, and facilitating their growth.
Entrepreneurship & Leadership – Programmes, events, workshops, and bootcamps to amplify student exposure and growth.
Universal Values and Ethics – Nurturing the students emotionally and spiritually by encouraging activities like yoga, meditation, heartfulness sessions, and much more.
Community and Care – Charity drives, community event participation, green initiatives, and conservation of resources are part of the comprehensive community care programme.
Skills Development – Giving students platforms for skill development to form an additional layer of expertise to their educational portfolio.
GIIS also lays special focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) learning for all the students to improve their thinking ability, analytical reasoning power, and technical problem-solving skills.
A Leader with a Vision
The personality leading GIIS from the front is Dr Heena Rachh, the Principal of GIIS AUH. She has been associated with schools and community programmes for the last 25 years. She launched her career in education after acquiring her bachelor’s degree in child development from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in India. Dr Heena was driven by an unflinching conviction that education can change lives. A state champion in lawn tennis and accredited long-distance runner, she possesses extensive experience and training in providing strategic leadership to schools in multi-cultural setups. Dr Heena believes that a good teacher must be a great student first. She regularly offers seminars and leads workshops on various subjects ranging from the training of teachers to the art of parenting, communication skills, and attitude engineering at Ahmedabad Management Association. There, she is also a member of the Management Development Programs Committee.
Focusing on the Extra-Curricular
GIIS Abu Dhabi campus not only ensures the academic development of the students but also offers a vast range of extra-curricular and co-curricular activities that have been included to appeal to children of all interests and backgrounds. It offers a variety of activities from swimming, taekwondo, basketball, cricket, and tennis to chess, art, music, clay making, and needlework. The school also encourages students to hone their inherent skills in performance arts, dance, innovation, and more. It has options to gain the interest of nearly every student on the campus. Other course enrichment activities such as quizzes, group projects, or short tests are conducted in class after each concept is explained. These activities are designed to help balance the learning environment and nurture students to become well-rounded individuals and face the world as global citizens.
Preparing Students for a Bright Future
Global School Foundation has initiated specialised programmes across all GIIS campuses to empower students and teachers with information, technology, and assessment resources. The AUH campus has a Global Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (GCIE) that provides students with a wide range of resources and space to create and innovate their ideas. Students are also encouraged to make their own robotic devices as robotics inspires them to make connections across several disciplines as it combines mechanical, electronic, electrical, and programming skills. It offers a Qutuhal Programme that focuses on Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) based learning to bring scientific literacy at an early age. Future participations are also enhanced through the Global Student Exchange (GSE) programme where students from different countries research on a single idea and learn from each other.
Noteworthy Achievements
GIIS’ dedication towards attaining educational and infrastructural excellence has led it towards achieving numerous accolades. It was declared the winner of IMC Making Quality Happen Trophy 2020 for Heartfulness Intervention at the IMC MQH Best Practice Competition organized by IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Award Trust. Qutuhal at GIIS AUH has been awarded by the Institute of Directors Golden Peacock Award for the best product/service for the year 2020.
GIIS AUH was the winner of the IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Performance Excellence Trophy in 2019. Furthermore, the school was awarded three stars for the ‘Heartfulness at ACE Team Competition,’ at the 25th Asia Pacific Quality Conference in Bali in 2019.
Facing the Pandemic Dynamically
GIIS Abu Dhabi did not give up during these turbulent times of the COVID-19 pandemic. It won the prestigious IMC Excellence in Crisis award for adapting well to this crisis and safeguarding the students as well as ensuring the continuity of quality education for them. The school authorities implemented several smart solutions and made serious efforts to shift their holistic teaching practices online during the pandemic. GIIS Abu Dhabi commenced this shift by trimming down the curriculum to reduce children’s workload and screen time. On the other hand, it did not lose focus on maintaining the curricular requirements that were laid out by ADEK and CBSE. “We arranged doorstep delivery of textbooks for every student to ensure their learning was not affected. We are proud to say that our after-school activities did not take a hit as we decided to conduct two hours of ASA activities every day wherein even parents were welcome to join,” asserts the management. The school set up virtual labs incorporating immersive and interactive simulation to make sure that practical learning remained fun and interesting for students during the crises.
Steady Steps towards Tomorrow
Team GIIS opines that the education and learning landscape is undergoing a transformational shift that is teaching students to become self-teachers in a way. The school’s job and focus remain on nurturing them to become well-rounded, aware, compassionate, and creative global citizens. “Teaching and learning innovations are bursting at the seams, and we are excited to harness newer technology as it proves its efficacy to empower our students with relevant skills that will help them in the time to come,” opines the authority. Being one of the most sought-after schools in Abu Dhabi, GIIS has always been committed to delivering advanced education and skills that prepare growing individuals ahead of time. It intends to continue investing its efforts towards achieving the same in the future.
