(Photo: Harrow International School, Dubai. Courtesy Taaleem Holdings)
By Ignatius Chithelen
June 6, 2026
For decades now, the top students from reputed non-profit and government-run schools have been admitted by the best colleges in the West. Many alumni enroll their children at the top schools they attended, expecting they will then be admitted by a top college. So, they track the number of students from their schools admitted by the top colleges. Since they donate to their college, or know major donors, they lobby college officials to admit the same or larger number of students from their schools.
Given such long-established, recruiting of students from the top non-profit and government-run schools, by the top colleges, for-profit schools find it very tough to place their graduates at these colleges. So, typically, college-educated, upper income parents in the West and in India, do not enroll their children in for-profit schools, even those with reputed brand names and modern facilities.
Meanwhile, in the Gulf countries, for-profit schools are forecast to see rising demand. Running for-profit schools in those kingdoms is a lucrative business with high profit margins. In fiscal year 2025, for instance, Taaleem had a 15% profit margin; profits were $44 million on revenues of $307 million, which were both roughly double that in fiscal year 2022. Taaleem, which is listed on the Dubai Stock Exchange, has a market value of around $810 million, according to Reuters. It has 4,100 employees.
Taaleem pays a licensing fee for its Harrow schools to a subsidiary of the charity which owns Harrow School, UK. The fee is used for a number of charitable aims, including widening access to the Harrow School, UK. There are more than a dozen licensed Harrow schools operating around the World, including ten in China and one in Bangalore, India.
Ignatius Chithelen is the publisher of Global Indian Times and author of Six Degrees of Education and Passage from India to America. A Chartered Financial Analyst, he is manager of Banyan Tree Capital, New York. Neither he nor Banyan has any financial or other interests in any of the companies mentioned in this story.
