Uganda: Inclusive Education Should Not Erase Special Needs Schools, Govt Told

What the report says

Stakeholders in Uganda are pushing back against any education reform that would eliminate specialised schools for learners with special needs as the Ministry of Education and Sports advances an inclusive education policy. The debate, reported by The Independent in Kampala on 1 October 2026 and distributed by AllAfrica, centers on how to expand mainstream schooling without losing support for children who need more intensive assistance.

Tororo District Chairperson John Okea said specialised schools remain necessary, especially for learners with severe disabilities, and warned that moving children into ordinary classrooms without adequate support could increase dropouts. He pointed to Tororo’s long history with special needs education and said the conversion of Agururu Primary School from a special needs institution into a mainstream school appeared to coincide with a decline in SNE enrolment there.

A Ministry of Education and Sports official, Sarah Bugosi, said the government does not plan to close special schools. She said Uganda currently uses three school models: inclusive, integrated and exclusive, and argued that specialised institutions still serve learners whose needs cannot be fully met in ordinary classrooms. She also noted that other countries maintain such schools alongside inclusive systems.

The story adds that Uganda has an estimated 16 percent of school-age children with special needs, but only about 2 percent of primary learners are enrolled as SNE students. Okea also criticized funding levels for special needs work, while Bugosi said budget constraints remain an issue and warned that some schools misuse SNE classifications to gain extra resources.