Danny Mesmar, Project Manager GESS Dubai gave the award to Rachel.
Rachel Jasmina Dias, a 10-year-old Goan student in Dubai, has been honoured with the prestigious GESS Education Award 2025 in the UAE in the Community Award for Citizenship category.
The award recognises her remarkable efforts to promote literacy and community engagement through her initiative, the ‘Books for All’ project, under the Rachel Foundation.
Speaking after receiving the award, Rachel said, “Books have changed my life. I wanted to make sure that every child, no matter where they come from, has the chance to experience that same magic.”
The GESS Education Awards, considered one of the most prestigious recognitions in the field of education across the Middle East and beyond, honour individuals and institutions that demonstrate innovation, creativity, and social impact.
Rachel’s win places her among an elite group of educators and change agents who are shaping the future of learning.
Rachel’s achievement is not just a personal milestone but also a proud moment for the Goan and wider Indian diaspora in the UAE. Her story serves as a powerful reminder that leadership and compassion know no age — and that the smallest voices can often make the loudest difference.
Besides being the recipient of the Reading Torch Award in September 2024, Rachel will receive the Karmaveer Chakra Bronze Award in Delhi on November 25.
Rachel’s journey began with a simple belief — that every child deserves access to the joy and empowerment that books can bring.
Rachel founded the Rachel Foundation in May 2023 to channel her creative inclinations into social good. She began by designing bracelets, bookmarks and artwork and then collaborated with designer Verma D’Mello to exhibit and sell items whose proceeds go toward the education of underprivileged children.
On the literacy front, Rachel launched the ‘Books for All’ project under her foundation, organising book donation drives, educational resources, reading circles, and story-sharing events.
These initiatives have reached children across schools and community centres such as M-Kids in Mauritius, Saigon Children’s Charity in Vietnam, the Goa Sudharop NGO (USA/Goa), the Diocesan Society of Education, Goa, and Sputnik Home in Sri Lanka.
Her lively storytelling sessions and mentorship activities aim not only to build reading habits but also to boost confidence, imagination, and empathy among young readers.
Besides conducting story-reading sessions at schools and nurseries in Dubai to foster a culture of reading for pleasure, Rachel also serves as a Reading Ambassador for the Taghyeer Organisation’s ‘We Love Reading’ programme in Jordan.
She is the author of the book ‘Rose never gives up’, published by Bribooks, which was released at Sharjah International Book Fair in November 2024.
In the domain of sports, Rachel is a swimmer in Dubai, having won multiple medals and holding ambitions to represent Goa in the National Games.
Her foundation’s initiatives and reading outreach demonstrate her dedication to supporting disadvantaged children, while her swimming achievements and leadership roles reveal drive and versatility.
Incidentally, Rachel and her twin brother, Troy, are award-winning swimmers who hail from Margao and are presently studying in a British school in Dubai.
Their father, Terrence, played cricket for Goa, while their mother, Remy, was a former teacher at Manovikas School in Margao.
