Two private schools in the UAE have been shortlisted for the World’s Best School Prize 2024 in recognition of their work in environmental action and promoting health initiatives.
The Dubai International Academy Emirates Hills was named in the top 10 shortlist for Environmental Action while Gems Legacy School was named in the top 10 shortlist for Supporting Healthy Lives.
Founded by T4 Education in collaboration with Accenture, American Express, and the Lemann Foundation, the award is across five categories – community collaboration, environmental action, innovation, overcoming adversity and supporting healthy lives.
This year’s winners will share a $50,000 prize fund and will be invited to the World Schools Summit, to be held in Dubai on November 23 and November 24.
Adding trampolining to the curriculum
Gems Legacy School is going all out to develop health plans for their entire community – pupils, teachers and parents.
From plans to add trampolining to the curriculum to hosting sleep hygiene workshops, to breaks for eating fruits to nutrition literacy programmes for pupils and parents, the school has developed unique programmes to promote good health.
Asha Alexander, principal of Gems Legacy School, said: “We are working to make sure trampolining is built into the curriculum, so children go every quarter.
“We are not just promoting healthy lives for our pupils but also for our teachers who have diabetes.
“We worked with Bounce [a trampoline park in the UAE] and got Fitbits for all the teachers, and they had challenges to make sure they were reducing weight.
“We also had a doctor come and speak to them about diabetes reversal, so several teachers are on a programme to reverse diabetes.”
The school also works with underprivileged children in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh through the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (Save girls, Educate girls) Organisation.
“We have been educating them about cleanliness and sanitation and the importance of good nutrition and exercise,” she said.
“We also do something called walk for water to bring home the importance of drinking clean, safe drinking water across the world.”
Pupils walk while carrying water without spilling it, an exercise that helps them understand what children experience in other parts of the world where water is scarce.
The school also organised sleep hygiene workshops and taught children why they should sleep at a certain time instead of staying up to scroll through social media.
“Especially in places like Dubai, where it's very hot and children don't exercise, there is a great tendency to have fast food. So, we have instituted fruit breaks to make sure children eat clean,” said Ms Alexander.
Giving pupils the power to lead
The Dubai International Academy Emirates Hills has an Eco Club with an impressive 15-year-old legacy.
The club hosted the inaugural model Cop28 event in November 2023, allowing 130 pupils from across Dubai to tackle pressing environmental issues, particularly plastic pollution in the UAE, through debates.
Hitesh Bhagat, principal at the Dubai International Academy Emirates Hills, said: “The most important part of what our school does is that it is student-led. It's not something which we are pushing, pupils come with different ideas.
“There is a big push for pupils to walk and bike to the school, a lot of carpool opportunities for our parents, so that they have a car-free day. We even celebrate some days where electricity use is minimal.”
The school has raised awareness about the importance of electronic waste recycling by initiating campaigns for World Environment Day and Campus Sustainability Month.
During the e-waste drive, the school collected old digital devices and teamed up with a company to recycle these products. The school raised around 2,000kg of e-waste.
Pupils are now working with local companies to introduce e-waste bins across malls in Dubai.
They have also worked on plans to use solar panels, and reuse school uniforms and textbooks, as well as taken part in a plant adoption drive.
Established in 2022, the World’s Best School Prize gives a platform to schools that are changing lives in their classrooms and far beyond their walls.
The winners of the five prizes will be chosen by expert judges and a public vote that opened on Thursday.
The school that receives the most public votes will receive the Community Choice Award.
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Ipaf in numbers
Established: 2008
Prize money: $50,000 (Dh183,650) for winners and $10,000 for those on the shortlist.
Winning novels: 13
Shortlisted novels: 66
Longlisted novels: 111
Total number of novels submitted: 1,780
Novels translated internationally: 66
The biog
Born: near Sialkot, Pakistan, 1981
Profession: Driver
Family: wife, son (11), daughter (8)
Favourite drink: chai karak
Favourite place in Dubai: The neighbourhood of Khawaneej. “When I see the old houses over there, near the date palms, I can be reminded of my old times. If I don’t go down I cannot recall my old times.”
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
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Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
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The specs
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Stephen King, Penguin
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History's medical milestones
1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
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Red Star Belgrade v Tottenham Hotspur, midnight (Thursday), UAE
