Nursery, Primary and Secondary schools.

The MoES regulates more than 30,000 nursery, primary and secondary institutions spread throughout Uganda. At the elementary level, more than 59 percent of the more than 20,000 schools in 2017 are government-owned and -supported. The remainder are private, administered by religious bodies, both Christian and Muslim, entrepreneurs and investors, or local communities, among others.

School education in Uganda consists of three levels of varying length: seven years of elementary, four years of lower secondary, and two years of upper secondary education. Upon successful completion of the seventh year of education, and the passing of the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE), students are awarded the Primary School Leaving Certificate.

The secondary education cycle in Uganda lasts six years and consists of the eighth through 13th years of study, or Senior 1 (S1) through Senior 6 (S6). The cycle is split into two levels: lower secondary, which lasts for four years and awarded Uganda Certificate of Education, and upper secondary, which lasts for two and awarded a Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education. Owing to the system’s British roots, these two levels are also known as the Ordinary and Advanced Levels, respectively.

The academic year runs from February to late November or early December. The school year is divided into three terms, with end-of-year examinations held in October or November.

The first term runs from Monday, 5th February to Friday, 3rd May 2024 running for 89 days. The holidays will be running from 4th may to 26th May for 23 days.

Second term runs from Monday, 27th May to Friday, 23rd august 2024 running for 89 days. The holidays will be running from 24th August to 15th September for 23 days.

Third term runs from Monday 16th September to Friday, 6th December running for 82 days The third term holidays will be running from 7th December to 2nd February, 2025.

The proposed dates for S.1, S.5 and technical/farm and community polytechnics start of term 1, 2024.
Placement for P.7 leavers is on 24 – 25th January 2024 and the reporting for S.1 for 1st term 2024 is on 12th February, 2024.
Placement for s.4 leavers is on 8th to 9th February 2024 and the reporting for S.5 for first term 2024 will be on 19th February, 2024.

Business, Technical, Vocational Education and Training Institutions.

With the introduction of the new curriculum, the Business, Technical, Vocational Education and Training Institutions have slowly been gaining importance and momentum as the curriculum shines a a spotlight on vocational skills and training.

For the TVET and farm schools, first term will begin on 1st February to 3rd may running for 90 days. Second term will be running from 29th May to 24th August, 2024 running for 84 days.
Third term will be running from 16th September to 6th December running for 79 days.

Industrial training for the students to test their skills in their selected industries will be done in January, 2025 for 30 days.

For the Uganda technical colleges and Uganda colleges of commerce.

Semester one for the year one students (2023/2024 intake) in this college started on 4th September, 2023 to 15th December running for 15 weeks. And the recess term for this intake 18th December to 24th January 2024 for 6 weeks.

While for the 2022/2023 January intake, their second year begins on 12th February 2024 to 17th May 2024 running for 14 weeks. And the second semester begins 18th May to 2nd June, 2024 running for 2 weeks.

Semester two for the year one students of the 2023/2024 intake in the colleges of commerce begins on 29th January to 17th May, 2024 and it will run for 17 weeks.

The recess terms for students of the 2023/2024 intake from 18th May to 23rd August 2024 run for 12 weeks and students of the 2022/23 January intake will begin their recess 2nd September to 1st December running for 15 weeks.

The students of the 2023/2024 intake will begin their second year, first semester on 2nd September 2024 to 13th December 2024 running for 17 weeks and Year one for the 2024/2025 students will also begin on the same date.

The recess terms for students of the 2023/2024 intake and the students of the 2024/2025 intake will begin on 16th December to 31st January running for 7 weeks.

The second semester for the students of the 2023/2024 intake and the 2024/2025 intake will begin on 3rd February to 23rd may, 2025 running for 17 weeks.

The recess term for the students of the 2023/2024 intake and the 2024/2025 intake will begin on 2nd June to 29th august, 2025.

For the Uganda cooperative colleges

Year one, second semester for the 2022/2023 intake will begin on 4th September to 22nd December, 2023 and it will run for 14 weeks. The 2023/2024 intake will also begin their year one, semester one on the same dates.

Industrial training for these students to showcase their skills and apply their knowledge will begin on 3rd January, 2024 to 16th February running for 6 weeks.

Year two semester one for the 2022/2023 intake will begin on 19th February to 17th May, 2024 running for 13 weeks. And for the 2023/2024 intake their semester two of year one will begin on the same dates.

The 2022/2023 who will be finalists will complete their last semester from 27th May, 2024 to 23rd August, 2024 which will run for 12 weeks.

The health Training and Nursing institutions:

The nursing and midwifery training institutions will begin their first semester of January to June from 29th January to 28th June, 2024 running for 22 weeks and the holidays will be from 1st to 19th July for 19 days.

The second semester will run from July to December on 22nd July to 13th December, 2024 for 21 weeks and have holidays starting from 16th December to January.

The Allied health training institutions will begin the January to June semester from 12th February to 15th June running for 17 weeks and the recess term for that semester will run from 12th June to 13th July for 28 days and holidays from 14th July to 11th August for 27 days

The second semester will run from July to September beginning on 12th August to 14th December running for 17 weeks and the recess term will run from 15th December to 15th January for 30 days.