Nargish Khambatta is Principal and CEO of GEMS Modern Academy, an independent international school in Dubai, UAE, which was named in the Top 10 shortlist for the World’s Best School Prize for Innovation 2023.

Having integrated technology and entrepreneurship into its curriculum, the school has seen a 37% year-on-year rise in student participation and national and international collaborations with the likes of DFC, SAP, and Microsoft.

Recognising the need to prepare students for an uncertain future, GEMS Modern Academy introduced a number of technological innovations into its curriculum and practices to include the region's first online report card system, developed entirely by studen s and teachers. The school even has a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programme, through which students from Grade 2 onwards bring their own learning devices.

In 2015-16, after sending teachers to Carnegie Mellon University for training in STEAM and technology integration, the school incorporated the disciplines into classrooms. Also, after partnering with Harvard Project Zero, the school developed thinking routines and a multidisciplinary approach towards innovation, known as the futures curriculum method, which has been adopted by several other schools.

Altogether, this has led to an entrepreneurial mindset that the school deliberately fosters. Starting in primary school with Unit of Inquiry projects, and moving on to Challenge-Based Learning in middle school and the school’s Prism Project and Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme in senior school, GEMS Modern Academy provides what it calls a scaffolded strategy for developing critical thinking, problem-solving, design thinking and a growth mindset.

Khambatta’s outstanding leadership of the school saw her receive the first-ever GEMS Exceptional Head of School Award in 2018.

Her philosophy is that all children should be given ample opportunity to discover their self-worth, interests, and passion in a secure and happy environment, to grow into confident young adults with a sound intellectual and moral compass to guide them to their goals.