Suubi Community Schools in Mubende, Uganda, has been named the winner for Inclusive Education in the Global Schools Prize 2026, an initiative of the Varkey Foundation celebrating the world’s most innovative and impactful schools reimagining education for the future.
As the Inclusive Education winner, Suubi Community Schools receives $50,000 alongside a Global Schools Prize Badge, recognising its extraordinary leadership and impact in creating accessible learning opportunities. The school was selected from almost 3,000 nominations and applications across 113 countries worldwide.
Suubi Community Schools has also been named as one of the Top 10 finalists for the Global Schools Prize 2026, with the overall winner – and recipient of an additional $500,000 prize – set to be announced at the Education World Forum on 19 May.
Founded by renowned education pioneer and philanthropist Sunny Varkey, the $1 million Global Schools Prize is the largest prize of its kind. Today’s top 10 announcement recognises outstanding schools worldwide that demonstrate exceptional drive and ambition for their students, regardless of circumstance, ensuring every learner has the chance to thrive.
Suubi Community Schools, founded by Daniel Sebugwawo and serving 570 students aged 5-19, is a beacon of inclusive education in a region where fewer than half of children achieve basic literacy and numeracy. Born from the belief that every child can learn, Suubi delivers a structured catch-up model grounded in foundational skills, formative assessment, individualised learning plans, and adaptive, multi-sensory teaching for learners with reading difficulties, attention challenges, language barriers, and trauma-related gaps from the Ebola and COVID-19 school closures.
Its most innovative practice, assigning SEND learners leadership roles in STEM, arts, and vocational projects, has transformed student confidence and become a replicable model. Teacher development runs across four quarterly cycles informed by UNICEF and World Bank frameworks. Partnerships with Riverflow International, alongside a new solar power system, are unlocking digital inclusion. Strong Parent-Teacher engagement and community dialogue challenge disability stigma, particularly for girls.
Recognised with a Resolution Project Award and further project honours, Suubi would use Prize funds to expand teacher training, hire staff, scale STEM and vocational programmes, and strengthen after-class catch-up learning, proving meaningful inclusion is possible in resource-constrained settings.
Sunny Varkey, Founder of the Varkey Foundation, the Global Schools Prize, and GEMS Education, said:
“Congratulations, Suubi Community Schools. Your approach to teaching and learning powerfully demonstrates how schools play a defining role in equipping young people with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to shape our rapidly evolving world. By highlighting your achievement, we hope to inspire a global movement to reimagine learning and turn bold ideas into real-world impact. This is more than an award – it’s a platform to spark a global conversation about scaling the best ideas in education and advancing action far beyond the classroom.”
The Global Schools Prize categories are:
- AI Transformation
- Arts, Culture and Creativity
- Character and Values Driven Education
- Global Citizenship and Peacebuilding
- Health and Wellbeing
- Overcoming Adversity
- SEND/Inclusive Education
- STEM Education
- Sustainability
- Teacher Development
A Global Schools Prize Council, made up of some of the most respected and influential figures in global education, technology, and philanthropy, is guiding the prize and providing strategic insight. It is co-chaired by Stefania Giannini, former Assistant Director-General for Education at UNESCO, and Dame Christine Ryan, former Chair of the Ofsted Board. Its members include Rosalia Arteaga, former President and Vice-President of Ecuador, Nuno Crato, Portugal’s former Education Minister, Andreas Schleicher, Director of Education and Skills at the OECD, Dina Ghobashy, Director of Education Transformation, Microsoft, Lasse Leponiemi, Co-Founder and Chairman, HundrED Foundation, Deborah Quazzo, Managing Partner, GSV Ventures and co-founder of the ASU+GSV Summit, Heekyung (Jo) Min, Executive Vice President, CJ CheilJedang, Jonnie Noakes, Director of The Tony Little Centre for Innovation and Research in Learning, Eton, 2019 Global Teacher Prize winner Peter Tabichi, 2023 Global Student Prize winner Nhial Deng, and Global Student Prize finalists Kenisha Arora and Kekhashan Basu.
The Council is part of a wider Global Schools Prize Academy, which will choose the winner.
The Global Schools Prize joins the Global Teacher Prize and Global Student Prize, completing a powerful trilogy that celebrates educators, learners, and now schools as institutions of innovation and change. Together, the three prizes spark a 360-degree conversation about what it takes to deliver the best possible education, equipping children to face the future with confidence – while rethinking the future of learning for generations to come.
Interested schools were able to apply for the Global Schools Prize at www.globalteacherprize.org/
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