A DUBAI-based company that claims to provide “no frills” private education is to open its first school in Scotland next year.

Global Education Management Systems (Gems) charges fees of £5,000 a year, up to half the cost of a traditional private school. It already has acquired 13 schools south of the border and is now carrying out market research with a view to expanding into Scotland. Its aim is to become the biggest provider of private education in the UK within the next five years.

In the Gulf states, about 40,000 children are currently educated in Gems schools, which are geared to providing high teaching standards rather than luxurious surroundings and facilities.

Sunny Varkey, an Indian entrepreneur who recently signed a deal to take his chain into Afghanistan, heads the Gems group. He plans to use Gems’ position as a limited company to invest in school facilities, claiming it will give him an edge over most independent schools, which find it difficult to raise money for new buildings due to their charitable status.

A spokeswoman for Gems said it had conducted market research and found that there was demand in Scotland for their schools. She added: “It’s our intention to expand right across the whole of the UK. We are moving north of the border. I would say, realistically, it will be about a year but if a plot of land came up, it could be much sooner than that.”

The move has prompted concerns within the private sector of a potential price war, which could jeopardise the future of some of Scotland’s existing schools.

Over the past few years, Rannoch school in Perthshire and Keil in Dumbartonshire have both closed, and there are concerns that Scotland’s falling birth rate could create more problems. At the same time, the Scottish private school sector has seen an increase in fees of almost a third. Gems schools could tap into public dissatisfaction with Scotland’s comprehensive state system.

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