Kyaninga Inclusive Model School

At Kyaninga Inclusive Model School (KIMS), a typical Tuesday during our Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) Day offers a glimpse into a truly unique learning environment. You might see a student who is blind sharing a Braille story with a peer in a wheelchair, while another student with autism listens intently to an older classmate reading aloud. What distinguishes KIMS as a premier primary school in Uganda is not just that over half of our student body consists of children with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), but that every learner participates on equal footing. This intentional integration of SEND and non-disabled students, coupled with our innovative collaborative learning methods, creates an atmosphere of joy and full inclusion.

Last term marked our first full term in our newly purpose-built classrooms, and two events captured the KIMS spirit perfectly. Our Inclusive Sports Day brought the whole school community together — parents, teachers, and every child — in six mixed colour teams, each carefully composed of different ages, abilities, and needs. Together they rotated around eight activity stations, collaborating, encouraging one another, and pooling their efforts to win points for their team. Watching a child in a wheelchair and a child with Down syndrome celebrate together as their team scored is the kind of moment that tells you everything about what inclusion really means. This commitment to joyful participation was also evident during the disability awareness march through Fort Portal, where KIMS students joined peers from partnership schools like Mugusu and Kiguma Primary to demonstrate inclusion to the wider community through poetry and dance.

What truly sets KIMS apart is its role as a teacher training school. Because our teachers spend every day using proven, learner-centred, active pedagogy in one of the most diverse classrooms in Uganda, they are uniquely qualified to model what excellent inclusive teaching looks like — a world away from the passive, teacher-led methods that dominate most primary schools. Through our Excellence and Inclusion continuous professional development programme, that hard-won daily expertise is shared directly with government school teachers across the region, who are often overwhelmed and unsupported when asked to teach inclusively. These educators facilitate community awareness sessions at partnership primary schools like Mugusu, Kiguma, and Canon Apolo Demonstration, helping parents and local leaders understand less visible disabilities such as autism and speech difficulties. Our teachers are not just trainers - they are living proof that it can be done brilliantly.

The global impact of our model was recently recognized when KIMS was selected as a Top 50 finalist for the Global Schools Prize by the Varkey Foundation. This prestigious landmark international award recognizes exceptional schools reimagining education, and being chosen from thousands of worldwide applications is a testament to our extraordinary inclusive work.

Every donation to KIMS helps sustain a school that proves inclusion works - and helps us share that proof far beyond our own gates.