2026 School Reopening: Important Dates and Academic Sessions as Children Return to School

As the festive holiday ends and a number of families wind up their holiday travel and reunions, the spotlight has now shifted towards the 2026 School Reopening, as millions of pupils are expected to go back to school starting from next week.

The reopening of schools in 2026 is the official kick-off of the first term for learners in pre-primary, primary, junior secondary, and senior secondary schools and institutions of higher learning, thus bringing to a close the long December holidays that lasted close to two months.

Based on the academic calendar stipulated by the Ministry of Education, schools will reopen before January 10, as official academic activities will resume on January 5, 2026.

The 2026 School Reopening signals a busy first term

According to this calendar, all schools would start their first term on January 5, 2026, and after 13 weeks of study, the schools would close on April 2, 2026, for a break before resuming on April 27, 2026, after an April holiday of three weeks for the second term.

The ministry also indicated that the 2026 School Reopening would also adopt a half-term holiday, which would take place between the dates of February 25 and March 1, 2026. The holiday is projected to provide a much-needed break for learners and teachers.

Parents or guardians, on the other hand, experience a mix of emotions as the new year’s school opening approaches. Many of them, for example, can’t wait to go back to their daily programs after the holidays, while the time is also characterized by busy preparations. Many parents, for example, shop for children’s school uniforms, school materials, among others, which comes at a time the family’s expenditures have not yet recovered.

The 2026 School Reopening will be even more important as it marks the beginning of the next phase of the Competency-Based Education (CBE) program. The first batch of students offered education through the new curriculum is expected to join junior secondary school in mid-January.

As per the Ministry of Education, the first batch of students in Grade 10 will report back to their junior secondary schools on the 12th of January, 2026. Education Cabinet Secretary, Julius Ogamba, said that a cumulative of 1,130,459 students took the exam, consisting of 578,630 boys and 551,829 girls.

Guidelines issued prior to the reopening of schools in 2026 indicated that all admissions to Grade 10 in all private and public schools were required to be done using the Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS).

“All schools, both private and public, must include Learner Grade 10 to KEMIS. No school principle will enroll a learner to KEMIS before a learner physically reports to the learning institution. The daily online reporting process will be monitored by KEMIS,” reads the guidelines.

As the 2026 School Reopening draws nearer, institutions, parents, as well as students, are preparing for a tough first term that marks the revival of normalcy and fresh starts in schools and a huge step towards a dynamic Kenyan education system.

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