Thread by @karamballes

THREAD: GEM Education
The billion dollar education scandal

Angering education professionals, Lord Adonis and now former Ofsted Wilshaws links to GEM Education has raised eyebrows

Around 2:30 this morning the NEU District Secretary contacted me...

Down the rabbit hole I went..

The Hull District Secretary sent me two hashtags and asked me if thos was the same company linked to Adonis
#callingoutgems
#HelpGemsParents
A quick dig and I can confirm these are about divisions of the same company.
The business is massive,its also immoral, so many scandals.

To be honest there is so much wrong with this company its difficult to know where to start, the more I dig the darker it gets
Contacting activists and distraught parents and educators around the world its clear they have left a trail of destruction in their maximising profit wake

In fact this could be one of the worlds largest education scandals of all time. Super rich investors from Arab states, western investment firms, political influence and coordinated disinformation campaigns.
Going to take a while to unpack it all, might have to do this in bursts

As I said this HUGE, the sheer scale staggering. Originally one of the oldest and largest international education providers, I dont know its past but in recent years it's been operating with the mentality of venture/vulture capitalists
Profiteering on Covid? I'll get to that soon

Around the world they are making big promises, taking over and setting up schools, charging fees and then things go sour and they pull out leaving parents andstaff without money and students without education.
Sharp elbows and strong arm tactics are used
amp.thenational.ae/uae/education/…

Switzerland

An educator who became collateral damage in GEMs pursuit for profit has written several informative threads on how students were left without an education and staff were left without a job

Like the worst practice of UK academies on steroids

https://twitter.com/wrpvincent/status/1135934533080047617?s=19

There is a running theme throughout of corporate tactics to silence those speaking out, gaslighting, sock puppets, coordinated astroturfing, PR exercises etc

Industrialised corruption, its sickening how many have been impacted

The voices of damaged lives silenced.

Whilst damaging the education of many without compensation they were making huge acquisitions.

This deal in Saudi was a $600m investment

amp.ft.com/content/f0a0b3…

Not just are questionable investment firms like Blackstone involved in GEM we also have the Saudi state pension fund involved in joint ventures. So we are dealing with the super rich. Not just the House of Saud but also the string pullers at Davos.

Got to worry about people who talk about education in terms of 'growth markets'
They have spread across continents the futures of 100s of thousands of students are in their greasy hands

Sidenote: Blackstone bought a stake in GEM in 2014.

Does this sound like a philanthropic organisation concerns with providing high quality education around the world including poorer regions of the world?

Our own questionable education CEOs in UK like Lord Agnew (Venture Capitalist) and Lord Harris (Carpet Right) are compared to the those running GEM. If our Lords are the footsoldiers of the elite GEM is run by the generals
Blackstone

Blackstone are accused to contributing to the GLOBAL housing crisis such is the scale of their operations.

GEM scandals are now causing an education crisis across the world and their actions during Covid I will come to soon

A final point on Blackstone, and the other investors in GEM ( this is a taster of the vested interests we are dealing with) these are the people thay fund politics in some countries they have ears of policy makers.
Makes me question even more how Acadmisation became UK policy

The profit before people approach is evident with what happened in Switzerland

The problem when dealing with billionaires who can buy political and press influence is that grassroot campaigners speak up but are not listened to.
Are the super rich just too powerful to face justice?

Onto GEM Education and the Covid19 crisis, this centres in the Middle East and their schools covering 100k+ students.

The schools shut for the pandemic and learning moved to their remote platform. Their offer in the link sounds good
worldofeducationmag.com/2020/03/17/eve…

Turns out it wasnt so great, it didnt offer a complete online package and they continued to demand parents pay the full private fees they had been paying for their children to go to the schools.
Even their greatest supporters are furious and feel conned

Failing to mimic the full school experience, but mimicking the entire fee structure

GEM Education promised to make amends

In the true tradition of big corporations they offered support but then made it virtually impossible for most to access.
It's a similar strategy we've seen UK gov use for UC and now for some seeking furlough and business support during Covid, learning from the private sector?

Parents are desperate in the Middle East. 100k+ parents impacted just in this region

Read the letter attached from GEM to a parent below.
Pay up now or no learning, your child will be held back a year, dont pay later and no school report, no school place and no Transfer certificate so changing schools will still mean redoing the year

I think this scream of rage sums it up well.
The sad thing is the yachts and sports teams the billionaires but cost more than the price of the political influence and PR that they buy, such is the scale of their wealth.

Now look at those names. So groups attached to GEM Education and their investors are putting money into bigwig Republicans and Democrats.
Also note how while having a billion dollar revenue they can splash a few million here or there on charities as PR exercises

The sad thing is that the yachts and sports teams the billionaires buy cost far more than the price of the political influence they buy to alter policy and protect themselves from justice

Now people are questioning if anyone has recieved any of the financial support package.

However there appears to be a lot of false accounts jumping in to defend GEM Education

Evidence mounts of a coordinated disinformation campaign to smother the voices of parent deprived of money and children deprived of education as they were cut off from the remote platforms.

GEM has fake fans but ruins real lives.

What kind of people look at a global epidemic and see the opportunity for a digital racketeering operation.
How many yachts, palaces and islands do these people need?

They couldn't even be bothered to be thay sophisticated with their disinformation campaign

The similarities with the disinformation campaigns run in the UK are clear, its proved such an effective tactic that it's now standard practice by many governments and corporations, and it's nearly always the billionaires who benefit

Feels so much like what ive seen in my timeline lately.

I've spent years campaigning against corruption in education but this goes beyond anything I have ever encountered.

GEM even have a seat on the World Economic Forum. World leaders come to see them at Davos such is the wealth and power backing them

At an international level they call for cuts in public spending, creating evidence that class size doesnt matter, also playing into the idea that in rich countries like the UK educators dont need to be paid as much.
We have passed 'peak efficiency'

GEMS Education first moved into education in 2003 while Adonis was Blairs Policy Adviser. When he became Minister of State for Education they were one of the first to try and take advantage of the new academy policy but controversies caused them to withdraw

Although the owner Varkey already had a network of schools in the Arab states it was in the UK where the GEMS brand was born.

And according to their website they are now looking to expand in the UK with their own Academy trust
gemslearningtrust.org

This really only scratches the surface of what GEM is up to, they have a host of charity groups acting as PR exercises, their financial links run deep and their influence.on political decision making needs a lot more investigation

However I researched and wrote this almost from scratch in 4 hours and now I need my breakfast
One thing of note
GEMS Education is the company in question
GEM Education in Newcastle is nothing to do with them.I let the S slip several times and dont want others to repeat my error

When UK gov tells us we need to end lockdown and risk a second peak to save the economy,just remember the billionaires and tax haven trillions could pay for the entire global fght against Covid19 and clear the national debt

No one needs to die for their greed

✊🏼Stay Safe✊🏼