21 girls receive Shaikha Fatima award

Shaikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, was the chief guest.

The Shaikha Fatima bint Mubarak Award for Excellence, was instituted by Gems Education last year to honour the wife of the late president Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, for her commitment to effective education and women's development. The award includes a memento and a scholarship to cover one full year of tuition at a Gems school.

The 21 girls, ranging in age from 9 to 18 years and grade levels 4 to 12, were nominated by committees from each school, based on outstanding academic success, significant contribution to environmental concerns, a high level of social or community service and commitment to world citizenship.

Shaikh Nahyan encouraged the winning students and their peers throughout the Gems network to continue to set their sights higher, and follow in Shaikha Fatima's trailblazing footsteps.

“Shaikha Fatima continues to inspire us to move forward despite the odds, to use all available resources to the best of our abilities, and to go where there is no path and leave a trail,” Shaikh Nahyan told the award-winning students. “My message to you today is to follow her example, to develop her strength of conviction and continue to focus on education as the path to a brighter future.”

Gems Chairman Sunny Varkey said the Shaikha Fatima Scholarship Awards depicted the group's commitment to encourage excellence and recognise potential in its student body for building stronger communities.

“Shaikha Fatima understood and cherished the idea that education is the key to the life's greatest treasures, and pushed hard so that thousands of young women in this blossoming country could reap the benefits of an effective education," he said. "Her vision continues to inspire, motivate and challenge us to develop the hearts and minds of our young women.”

The 21 award-winning girls include Noor Al Aswad, Akanksha Bhat, Meenakshi Rajesh Ramachandran, Ripika Kapoor, Rebecca Woodhead, Melissa Wilson, Kavya Uday Joshi, Aparna Das, Kamala Ram, Merilyn George, Mosammat Josna Mohammed Ali, Mary Ann George, Katie McConnell, Fatima Mohammed Al Qubaisi, Roshini Ramkumar, Effat Zahrah, Anjali Radhakrishnan, Aishwarya Sriram, Raqshanda Khan, Shweta Pilo and Hanishka Anil Gehani.