| Kippreport.com

Sunny Varkey

May 3, 2009 4:25 by kippreport

Sunny Varkey is a powerful man. As chairman of The Varkey Group, he has GEMS Education and Emirates Healthcare Holdings Limited (operating Welcare and City Hospitals and clinics) under his thumb.

Varkey has won a number of awards for his work. In January 2009, he was awarded with the Padmashri in India. In 2008, he received the Rajiv Gandhi Award for Eminent Educationist, the CEO Middle East Award for Corporate Social Responsibility, the Global Indian Business Award and the Most Outstanding Businessman of the Year by Asian Businessman Awards, Middle East.

Recently, however, Varkey’s been criticized for hiking schools fees at one of his schools, Dubai Modern High School. Parents were informed that over the next two years, the school’s tuition will increase by 90 percent. They didn’t like the news.

Last week, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority in Dubai (KHDA) responded to parents’ concerns and barred the school from increasing its fees. Not surprisingly, the announcement prompted Varkey to make a public statement:

”The policies and decisions made by the KHDA are flawed and inconsistent,” he said.