GESS Dubai 2026: Gulf needs over 2,800 new schools by 2029, organiser says

Gulf countries will need upwards of 2,800 additional schools by 2029 to absorb a rising number of pupils, Informa Connect said in a statement on Wednesday, Oct. 28, ahead of GESS Dubai 2026, the education exhibition and conference it organises in the emirate.

The projection comes from Alpen Capital’s GCC Education Industry Report 2025, which sees the region’s student population climbing to 15.5 million in 2029, compared with 14 million in 2024. The organiser said the event will examine how operators, investors and technology firms can respond to that growth without letting quality or learning outcomes slip.

GESS Dubai 2026 is scheduled for November 10 to 12 in the Sheikh Saeed Halls of the Dubai World Trade Centre. Education professionals can register at no cost.

26 openings in Dubai

In Dubai alone, the 2026-27 academic year brings 26 private education institutions, according to Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) figures cited in the statement. Of these, 17 are early childhood centres, seven are schools, and two are international higher education institutions.

The new schools should add nearly 17,000 seats, while the childhood centres will provide over 1,700. When classes resumed this year, Dubai’s private schools counted 406,563 pupils, a rise of 4.6%.

The emirate’s Education Strategy E33 aims for 100 new schools by 2033. More than 20 applications to open schools are currently with the KHDA for review.

1,854 international schools

Across the GCC, international schools now total 1,854 and serve almost 1.9 million students. Compared with 2021-22, their number has grown by 10.6% and their enrolment by 12.9%.

The UAE leads that market in the Gulf, with 935 international schools teaching over 934,000 students. In Saudi Arabia, 120 schools opened during 2025 under private-sector partnership models.

Investors on the programme

Several investors joining the line-up will also take part in Education Investment MENA, the investment conference held alongside GESS Dubai. Imad Ghandour, Co-Founder and Managing Director of CedarBridge, said that, unlike most areas of the economy, education is seeing investment pick up pace. His firm, he added, wants operators able to convert its funding into better results for students.

“We are seeking for the inspiring operators – across the whole spectrum – who can turn our capital into measurably better outcomes for every learner, and consequently to us as investors.”

Suveer Arenja, Director at Frontier Investment Management (FIM) Partners, has invested in K–12 education in the GCC and Egypt and helped build a portfolio of schools. Lasting expansion, he said, depends on more than funding: the region needs schools committed to quality and to their students, capable of winning parents’ trust over time.

Assessment in the AI era

Dr Steffen Sommer, Director General of Misk Schools, will speak as Saudi Arabia’s school sector keeps expanding. He said growing markets face the task of scaling up while protecting standards and school culture, and that artificial intelligence obliges schools to reconsider how they confirm that students genuinely understand what they learn.

“My session on Assessment 3.0 will explore how schools can evolve assessment from measuring the past to enabling the future.”