Learning in public and private schools will be interrupted by two public holidays which start early next week.
Schools will also break for ‘half term’ in June according to a calendar that was released to schools by the Ministry of Education.
Schools opened on 28th April for second term which is the longest term having fourteen weeks running till 1st August when they will be closed.
Immediately after opening schools had a break on 1st May 2025 as the country marked Labour Day celebrations.
Now on Sunday 1st June will be a public holiday as the country will mark Madaraka Day celebrations.
When a public holiday is on a Sunday it spills over to the following day thus affecting Monday.
This means on Monday 2nd June there will be no school and most businesses will not operate for the whole of this day.
Schools will resume on Tuesday 3rd June but break again for another public holiday which will be on Friday 6th June.
It will be Eid Ul Adha. This day is observed by Muslims in celebration of Prophet Ibrahim’s (Abraham) disposition to sacrifice his only son in submission to Allah’s will.
On this day Eid prayer is performed on the morning of Eid al-Adha, after which qurban the udhiyah or the ritual sacrifice of sheep, is performed.
Office of the Chief Kadhi in a statement said muslims will have Eid Ul Adha on 6th June 2025.
“The Supreme Court, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia confirmed today Thursday 27th May 2025 the sighting of the Dhul Hajj 1446H Crescent. Accordingly, tomorrow Wednesday 28th May 2025 is the first day of Dhul Hajj 1446H. Arafah will be on Thursday 5th June and Eid Ul Adha will be on Friday 6th June 2025. Eid Ul Adha Mubarak,” read the statement.
In same month schools will go for three day ‘half term’ break. According to Ministry calendar schools will break on Tuesday 24th June and resume on Monday 29th June.
Secondary schools are however notoriously known for breaking much earlier for ‘half term’.
Sports activities are slowly picking in most schools. Ministry made slight changes to second term co-curricular activities calendar.
Ministry also directed inclusion of junior school teachers into Kenya Primary Schools Sports Association (KPSSA) through elections.
Primary schools were directed to have learners aged below twelve years to participate in co-curricular activities.
For junior schools the learners must be below fifteen years and secondary schools they must be below eighteen years.
PRIMARY SCHOOLS TERM TWO BALL GAMES ACTIVITIES (UNDER 12 YEARS)
i) Soccer – Boys/Girls
ii) Volleyball – Boys/Girls
iii) Netball – Boys/Girls
iv) Handball – Boys/Girls
JUNIOR SCHOOLS TERM TWO BALL GAMES ACTIVITIES (UNDER 15 YEARS)
i) Soccer – Boys/Girls
ii) Volleyball – Boys/Girls
iii) Netball – Boys/Girls
iv) Handball – Boys/Girls
v) Basketball 3×3 – Boys/Girls
Primary and junior schools are also having various national projects and practicals.
The Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) has given schools till 31st May 2025 to ensure they have uploaded the School Based Assessment (SBA) projects for Grades 4 and 5.
Knec had in March uploaded the projects on schools Competency Based Assessment (CBA) portals for downloading and administration to learners.
Schools are required to administer the performance tasks (projects and practicals), score and upload the assessment outcomes of all learners on the CBA portal within the stipulated time.
According to Knec the tasks are to be uploaded by 31st May 2025. Both grades have projects in Science and Technology, Creative Arts and PE and Agriculture and Nutrition.
Many schools have however adhered to the timelines as they are done with the projects and practicals and now focused on submitting the scores.
In a circular dated 21st January 2025, Knec asked primary headteachers to keep all records and evidence generated from the assessments.
To cut cost Knec ordered the materials for the assessments to be obtained from the immediate school environment or improvised as much as possible.
Schools are also having projects and practicals in other classes. In primary schools the Grades 3, 4 and 5 are having the projects.
In junior schools all Grades 7, 8 and 9 are having the assessment projects and practicals.
In Grade 3 they are having the Integrated Learning Assessment (ILA) which is an assessment that combines all the learning areas.
Grades 7 and 8 are having projects in Agriculture, Creative Arts and Sports and Integrated Science.
Grade 9 learners are having KJSEA project on Creative Arts and Sports. Knec will fine schools sh 500 for late submission of KJSEA project scores.
Below are subjects with projects and practicals with dates for downloading assessment materials and final dates for uploading scores.
| Level and Subjects | Date to be accessed | Last Date to Upload scores | |
| Grade 4 (Subjects with Project, Practical & Performance Tasks) | (i) Science & Technology (ii) Creative Arts & Sports (iii) Agriculture & Nutrition | 3rd March 2025 | 31st May 2025 |
| Grade 5 (Subjects with Project, Practical & Performance Tasks) | (i) Science & Technology (ii) Creative Arts & Sports (iii) Agriculture & Nutrition | 3rd March 2025 | 31st May 2025 |
| SNE Intermediate Level (Performance Tasks) | (i) Communication, (ii) Social and Literacy Skills (iii) Daily Living Skills and Religious Education (iv) Sensory Motor Integration (v) Creative Activities (vi) Numeracy Activities (vii) Environmental Activities (viii) Psychomotor Activities | 3rd March 2025 | 31st May 2025 |
| Grade | Subjects with Project/Practical/Performance Tasks | Date to be accessed | Last Date to Upload scores |
| Grade 3 and Foundation Level | Integrated Learning Assessment i) Regular Learners ii) Hearing Impairment iii) Visually Impairment iv) Physical Disabilities v) SNE Foundation Level | 5th May 2025 | 31st July 2025 |
| Grade 7 | i) Agriculture ii) Creative Arts and Sports iii) Integrated Science | 5th May 2025 | 31st July 2025 |
| Grade 8 | i) Agriculture ii) Creative Arts and Sports iii) Integrated Science | 5th May 2025 | 31st July 2025 |
| Intermediate Level | i) Communication and Social Skills ii) Daily Living Skills and Religious Education (CRE,IRE,HRE) iii) Sensory Motor Integration iv) Creative Activities v) Numeracy Activities vi) Movement Activities | 5th May 2025 | 31st July 2025 |
| Prevocational Level | i) Prevocational Skills ii) Communication and functional literacy skills iii) Daily living skills and nutrition iv) Music and movement v) Physical education vi) Social studies vii) Religious Education (CRE/IRE/HRE) | 5th May 2025 | 31st July 2025 |
Also Grade 9 learners will sit for a qualifying test courtesy of the Kenya National Examinations Council from 9th June 2025.
The test will be done online and aims to test learners ability to sit for the upcoming Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA).
Knec has already released a timetable for the test which shows it will take three days. The first day 9th June will be rehearsal.
On Tuesday 10th June the learners will do Mathematics from 8:30am to 10:30am then English from 11:30am to 1:10pm.
On Wednesday 11th June they will do Integrated Science from 8:30am to 10:10am then Kiswahili from 11:10am to 12:50pm.
Below is a timetable that was released by Knec to guide the online test.
| DAY | PERIOD | ITEM NO. | PAPER/SUBJECT | DURATION |
| MONDAY 09.06.2025 | REHEARSAL DAY | |||
| TUESDAY 10.06.2025 | 8:30am – 10:30am (1st session) | 1 | QT-JS 903 Mathematics | 2 hours |
| 10:30am – 11:30am | BREAK | 1 hour | ||
| 11:30am – 1:10pm (2nd session) | 2 | QT-JS 901 English | 1 hour 40 minutes | |
| WEDNESDAY 11.06.2025 | 8:30am – 10:10am (1st session) | 3 | QT-JS 905 Integrated Science | 1 hour 40 minutes |
| 10:10am – 11:10am | BREAK | 1 hour | ||
| 11:30am – 1:10pm (2nd session) | 4 | QT-JS 902 Kiswahili | 1 hour 40 minutes |
