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| 27 Apr 2026 | |
| Global Schools Prize - Finalists |
Founded in 2018 as Children in Freedom Schools and rebranded in 2024 as Freedom International Schools – Africa (FISA), this Nakuru, Kenya-based institution has emerged as a pioneering force in African education. Under the leadership of the Founders Eng. Oku and Dr. Utheri Kanayo, FISA became an authorised International Baccalaureate (IB) World School in September 2025, offering both the Primary Years Programme (PYP) and Middle Years Programme (MYP) alongside Kenya's Competency-Based and 8-4-4 Curriculums. In March 2026, FISA further received authorisation to run IB’s Diploma Programme, making it a full IB continuum school — and one of the rare schools globally that marries an unapologetically Afrocentric vision with the international rigour of the IB framework.
FISA's mission is profound: ensuring African children know who they are, where they come from, and what they carry from their ancestors. Arts, culture, and creativity are not extras, they are the foundation. Every school day begins with Ubuntu Darasani, a 30–40 minute cultural grounding session featuring African thinkers like Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Wangari Maathai, and Martin Luther King Jr. Thursday Ankara Days transform the school into a living gallery of African design, while the annual Grandparents' Day brings elders into classrooms to share mother tongues and indigenous wisdom. The Bomas of FISA cultural village celebrates the Kikuyu, Luo, Luhya, Maasai, Kalenjin, Kisii, Borana, and Coastal communities within the school, while the music room intentionally places African instruments, marimba, chivoti, mabumbumbu, alongside Western ones to create a fusion orchestra.
Academic excellence confirms the model works. FISA achieved a 71% mean score in Kenya's final national primary examinations against a national average of 50%. The Kenya Ministry of Education and the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development have benchmarked the school to study its values-based approach.
The school's achievements are internationally recognised:
Featured by local media houses such as Citizen, NTV, KTN, as well as international ones like BBC News, CGTN, De Volkskrant, ZDF, among others, for its transformative approach
Student-led impact is tangible. Gacheru Kamau designed a portable indigenous seed bank housed in a pyramid-inspired rolling suitcase, sparking conversations about food sovereignty. Nyambura Mbugua built a crochet enterprise selling runway-worthy designs. Students co-designed a service-as-learning partnership with Mereroni Primary School, repainting classrooms and establishing a kitchen garden. A student-led Mansa Musa stage production generated enough revenue to fund a Lake Naivasha camp for the 60-member cast.
FISA's global footprint includes a partnership with the Embassy of Colombia, hosting Afro-Colombian academics and exchange students, and a 2023 two-week cultural exchange with 36 students from the Netherlands.
Serving 200 students (25% on scholarship) with 36 staff, all living within 6km of the school, FISA represents a scalable, community-embedded model. Prize funds would help establish a 50–60 acre "forever campus" near Nairobi with learning laboratories, sustainable agriculture, a conference and cultural centre, and rigorous teacher training programmes and toolkits — unlocking an ecosystem already in motion to reshape global education around identity, creativity, and humanity.
