Official 2026 Academic Calendar: Term Dates, Exam Schedules To 2027
Kenya’s Ministry of Education’s 2026 academic year is underway with the 8-4-4 and competency-based curriculum model in implementation. Starting today, it will be nine months and 18 days, and here’s how they’ve been divided.
Term I
5th January – 2nd April
25th February–1st March: Half-Term
3rd April–26th April: Break
Schools are scheduled to open today, marking the first term of the 2026 academic year. Approximately 51 days from today, seven weeks and two days to be exact, schools will close for their half-term break on 25th February 2026.
Schools will then reopen on March 1, 2026, after a five-day break. Young scholars will see their next break on 1st April 2026, which will mark the end of the first thirteen-week term of the year.
Term II
27th April – 31st July 2026
24th June–28th June: Half-term
3rd August–21st August: Break
The second term of the academic calendar will last an even longer duration, approximately 13 weeks and four days, 95 days in total. From 27th April 2026, schools will break for half-term, which will take place from 24th to 28th June 2026.
After a half-term break, young scholars will return to school for 36 days, after which they will break for their long holiday on 3rd August 2026, marking the end of the second term.
Term III
24th August – 23rd October 2026
23rd October 2026–1st January 2027: Break
Term three will be the shortest, lasting for approximately nine weeks and four days, a total of 61 days. Without any breaks in between, students will be in school for almost two months before the national examinations.
National exam academic calendar
From 26th October, grade school and secondary school candidates will undertake exams to determine the next steps in their academic journeys, much like the candidates before them.
KPSEA is scheduled to begin on the 26th and end on the 29th of October. KJSEA and KPLEA, on the other hand, will run for seven days, which concludes on 5th November; KILEA will end later on 30th October.
KCSE will take place last, from 2nd to 20th November. The holiday break begins on the 26th of November for non-candidates, which ends in January 2027, marking a new academic year.
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