GEMS students record PISA 2025 scores of 545 in science, 533 in mathematics and 527 in reading, helping reinforce Dubai’s position among the world’s top-performing education systems
Dubai, UAE, September 2026 – Dubai’s private schools have entered the global top 10 across every domain assessed in PISA 2025, marking a major milestone for the emirate’s education system and delivering a key ambition of the Dubai Education 33 Strategy.
Within this strong city-wide performance, students across participating GEMS Education schools achieved results significantly above both Dubai and UAE averages. Dubai’s private schools now rank sixth globally in reading and eighth in both mathematics and science.
The GEMS Education results place their performance firmly alongside the world’s highest-performing education systems in the top 5 and top 3 globally:
- GEMS students achieved an average score of 533 in mathematics, 70 points above the OECD average and 80 points above the UAE average, a level that would place GEMS among the top five globally.
- GEMS students secured 545 in science, 63 points above the OECD average and 87 points above the UAE average, placing their performance at a level comparable with the top three education systems internationally.
- GEMS recorded 527 in reading, 66 points above the OECD average and 94 points above the UAE average, placing performance at a level comparable with the top three globally.
As participating GEMS schools form part of the UAE’s PISA results, their strong performance also contributes positively to the national averages across all three domains.
The results demonstrate the contribution of GEMS students to Dubai’s overall performance and the impact that sustained academic rigour, exceptional educators and a culture of high expectations and continuous improvement across a diverse, multi-curriculum network can deliver at scale.
Dubai’s private schools have made significant gains since PISA 2022, rising from 13th to sixth globally in reading, ninth to eighth in mathematics and 14th to eighth in science. Across six PISA cycles since 2009, Dubai’s private-school average scores have increased by 37 points in mathematics, 22 points in reading and 36 points in science.
Dino Varkey, Group Chief Executive Officer, GEMS Education, said: “Dubai’s PISA performance is a result the entire education community can be proud of. To see Dubai enter the global top 10 across all three core domains is a powerful reflection of the extraordinary vision of the UAE’s leadership, the ambition of Dubai’s Education 33 Strategy and KHDA’s determination to create an education ecosystem in which schools, educators and young people can flourish.”
“As one of Dubai’s longstanding education partners, GEMS is immensely proud to play its part. Our responsibility is to translate the nation’s ambition into exceptional experiences and outcomes for students every day.”
Lisa Crausby, Chief Education Officer, GEMS Education, said: “PISA is valuable because it looks at how students apply what they know to real-world problems. These results give us confidence that the combination of strong teaching, subject knowledge and high expectations is making a difference. Our PISA results reflect a clear promise: every child will read fluently, build deep knowledge and apply it skilfully. Through our ambitious, knowledge-rich curriculum and exceptional teachers, students are prepared not only to succeed today, but to shape the future.”
“Our focus now is on using these findings to strengthen teaching further, share effective practice across our schools and ensure that more students can achieve at this level.”
The results come against a challenging global backdrop. The OECD reported that average performance across OECD countries reached its lowest-ever levels in mathematics and reading in PISA 2025, with more than 760,000 students across 91 countries and economies participating.
Against that context, Dubai’s sustained progress is particularly significant. The emirate’s private schools have improved across all three core PISA domains since 2022, while Emirati students also recorded substantial gains, improving by an average of 31 points in mathematics, 30 points in science and 18 points in reading.
For Dubai, the PISA results provide a significant international benchmark for the progress achieved under Education 33. For GEMS, they provide both recognition and responsibility.
“Dubai has raised the bar. We are proud to be helping raise it again.”, added Dino Varkey.
