The Guide
Wed, 24 June 2026

Cities / Abu Dhabi / GEMS United Indian School Abu Dhabi

GEMS United Indian School Abu Dhabi

A CBSE school in Baniyas West run by GEMS, descended from the long-running Our Own English School and re-opened on a new campus in 2015.

GEMS United Indian School Abu Dhabi campus
GEMS United Indian School Abu Dhabi, Bani Yas. Photograph · School

Curriculum
Indian
Fees, annual
AED 10k–21k
Ages
3 to 18
Founded
2015

A CBSE school in Baniyas West run by GEMS, descended from the long-running Our Own English School and re-opened on a new campus in 2015.

Caters mainly to the Indian expatriate community in Baniyas, with fees in the budget tier for Abu Dhabi and a Good rating from ADEK in recent rounds. The school's lineage gives it a longer track record than the 2015 founding date suggests.

Parent feedback skews positive on staff approachability and school communication, with the parent partnership rated Very Good by inspectors. Reviews are not uniformly glowing, and the academic experience reads as competent and structured rather than exceptional.

Comparable to International Indian School and the cluster of CBSE options in Baniyas. Choice usually comes down to fees, distance from home, and which sibling group already attends. Fits a family that wants CBSE continuity into Indian university entrance routes at a manageable price.


Annual fees

Year level Age Fee
Pre-KG 3 AED 10,420
KG1-KG2 4 AED 10,420
Grades 1-2 6 AED 12,430
Grades 3-5 8 AED 12,510
Grades 6-8 11 AED 14,530
Grade 9 14 AED 17,660
Grade 10 15 AED 17,570
Grades 11-12 16 AED 20,700

A value-tier CBSE school on a purpose-built campus on the Baniyas edge of Abu Dhabi, part of the GEMS stable and serving close to four thousand mostly Indian-expat pupils. Parents describe a warm, structured environment with dedicated class teachers and strong Class 10 outcomes; the trade signals concentrate around teacher turnover, gender separation from Grade 5, and an Arabic offer that has trailed the rest of the school.

Positives

  • Academic results. Class 10 CBSE outcomes run consistently strong, with public pass rates at 100 percent and English attainment in the senior phase pushed up to the top inspection band. The school carries the HPL World Class School mark.
  • Teaching and pastoral feel. Parents talk about teachers who go beyond the timetable, settle shy children quickly, and lean on activity-based lessons in the early years. The tone is nurturing rather than pressured, which sits unusually within the CBSE bracket.
  • Value and facilities. Annual fees sit roughly AED 10,000 to AED 21,000 across the year groups, low for Abu Dhabi. The Baniyas campus is purpose-built with science labs, sports halls, and proper outdoor space, which is rare at this price.

Considerations

  • Teacher turnover. Staff churn has run above 30 percent across recent three-year spans by external counts, which sits uneasily with the stability parents say they want. Continuity from year to year is not guaranteed even where a class teacher has been a hit.
  • Arabic and gifted provision. Arabic has trailed the rest of the curriculum in inspection terms, sitting at acceptable while neighbouring subjects climbed. Stretch for the top-end learners has been flagged as inconsistent, with the gifted cohort not always pulled hard enough.
  • Gender separation from Grade 5. Boys and girls split into separate classes and corridors from Grade 5. For families wanting a traditional Indian-school structure this is part of the appeal; for those who expected a coed run through to Grade 12 it is a real shift mid-primary.
  • Scale of the school. Close to four thousand children on a single site is a lot, and the experience leans on the class teacher being a strong anchor. When that lands, parents are warm; when staff change, the size shows.

Leadership

Mr. K. George Mathew

Accreditations

  • IN_CBSE 01

  • Grade 10 CBSE Results 2023-2024 Details available in the report.
  • Grade 12 CBSE Results 2023-2024 Details available in the report.

42 nd, Baniyas West, Abu Dhabi - Bani Yas - WB2 01 - Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates

School website