The Ministry of Basic Education (MINEDUB) and the Ministry of Secondary Education (MINESEC) have jointly released the official calendar for the 2026/2027 school year in the Republic of Cameroon. The calendar is set out in Joint Order N° 002/26/JO/MINEDUB/MINESEC of 14 August 2026, signed by the two ministers and visa-stamped by the Prime Minister’s Office on 13 August 2026. This English-language version of the order applies to all government and private schools operating under the two ministries, nationwide.
When the School Year Begins and Ends
Article 1 of the Order fixes the 2026/2027 school year to begin on Monday, 7 September 2026 at 7:30 a.m., and to end on Friday, 30 July 2027 at 3:30 p.m. This applies uniformly to all public and private schools falling under the Ministry of Basic Education and the Ministry of Secondary Education.
Face-to-Face and Distance Learning
Article 2 confirms that teaching and learning activities during the year will be organised both face-to-face and, where necessary, at a distance. Face-to-face activities take place in nursery schools, primary schools, colleges and high schools for learners of homogeneous or heterogeneous pedagogical levels. Distance learning activities, where deployed, will use the internet or a local network, radio broadcasts, television broadcasts, and printed or digital autodidactic learning booklets, particularly for the benefit of pupils in disadvantaged zones.
Breakdown of the School Year: Terms and Breaks
The school year is divided into terms, interspersed with two breaks of two weeks each (Article 3). Article 4 fixes these interruption periods as follows:
- First interruption: from Friday, 18 December 2026 at 3:30 p.m. to Monday, 4 January 2027 at 7:30 a.m.
- Second interruption: from Thursday, 25 March 2027 at 3:30 p.m. to Monday, 12 April 2027 at 7:30 a.m.
Holidays for boarding school students end on the eve of the start of the school year, before 6:00 p.m.
The detailed term structure set out in the order is as follows:
| Term | Period | Total Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| First Term | Monday, 7 September 2026 – Friday, 27 November 2026 | 12 weeks |
| Second Term (Part 1) | Monday, 30 November 2026 – Friday, 18 December 2026 | 3 weeks |
| Second Term (Part 2) | Monday, 4 January 2027 – Friday, 5 March 2027 | 9 weeks |
| Third Term (Part 1) | Monday, 8 March 2027 – Thursday, 25 March 2027 | 2 weeks |
| Third Term (Part 2) | Monday, 12 April 2027 – Friday, 11 June 2027 (internal assessments 3–21 May; official school exams from 19 April) | 8 weeks, including about 4 weeks of active learning for examination classes |
Examinations and Concours
Article 5 sets out the periods for official examinations and competitive entrance examinations (concours):
- Basic Education: Monday, 10 May 2027 to Friday, 30 July 2027.
- Secondary Education: Monday, 19 April 2027 to Friday, 30 July 2027.
The exact dates for each examination and concours will be communicated to the educational community separately by the competent minister.
According to the annexed schedule, official Secondary School exams begin on Monday, 19 April 2027, while official Primary exams begin on 10 May 2027. Internal assessments run from 3 to 21 May 2027 for secondary schools and from 27 May to 9 June 2027 for Basic Education. Mock examinations for examination classes are scheduled for 14–17 April 2027. Marking and results/deliberations run through late May and into June, and third-term exams will no longer be held as a separate exercise for examination classes.
Public holidays falling within the school year that are highlighted in the calendar include Ascension Day (Thursday, 6 May 2027) and National Day (Thursday, 20 May 2027).
Management of School Time
Article 6 sets out annual hour quotas by school level: nursery and community pre-school activities total 720 hours a year (30 hours a week); practising and regular primary schools total 1,161 hours a year, made up of 840 hours of systematic teaching, 240 hours for the integration of resources and assessment of skills, and 81 hours of breaks, with a weekly quota of 32 hours 15 minutes for full-time schools and 981 hours a year (26 hours a week) for part-time schools.
Article 7 fixes daily timings: nursery school runs from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (6 hours); full-time primary school runs from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., with a break from 9:30 to 10:00 a.m. and another from 12:00 to 12:30 p.m.; part-time primary morning classes run 7:30 a.m. to 12:40 p.m. and afternoon classes 1:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. from Monday to Friday, with Saturday morning classes from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Secondary education (Article 8) runs over 36 weeks with a minimum of 35 class hours per week, including guidance, counselling and extracurricular activities, for a total of 1,260 hours a year: 72 hours for extracurricular activities, 210 hours for assessments, and 978 hours for teaching and orientation-counselling, with active teaching hours required to total at least 900 hours. Extracurricular activities take place every Wednesday afternoon from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (Article 9).
Digital Transformation and Class Sizes
Under Articles 12 and 13, schools are encouraged during the 2026/2027 school year to integrate digital educational resources and artificial intelligence tools into teaching, learning, assessment and remedial education, in line with curriculum standards, ethics, academic integrity and data protection. Schools with a stable internet connection are expected to incorporate at least one digital tool per core subject, while schools in disadvantaged areas benefit from equipment provision and teacher training coordinated by the technical units of the two ministries.
Article 14 caps class sizes at 30 pupils for nursery and community pre-school, 60 pupils for primary education, and 50 students for secondary education. Where these limits are structurally exceeded in areas of high school density, principals must split classes (which then run on a part-time schedule) or create new sections within two weeks of the start of the school year, and report actual enrolment figures to the Divisional Delegation by the Friday of the second week.
Assessment and Reporting
Primary school pupils are assessed continuously (Article 16): weekly tests in core subjects every Friday, a monthly assessment covering language, mathematics, science and technology, the second official language and ICT, an end-of-term comprehensive assessment, and an end-of-year exam set by the Education Coordination Inspectorate. In secondary schools (Article 17), each term includes at least two standardised summative assessments in addition to formative assessments, which may be conducted in class or remotely.
Article 18 sets warning thresholds requiring corrective measures: an hourly coverage rate below 80% over 10 weeks, a pass rate below 40% after the termly exam, and a student attendance rate below 75% for the term, with corrective measures to be reported to the Regional Delegation within eight days.
The order also details end-of-term reporting procedures (Article 19), the digital submission of statistical summaries (Article 20), class/level council reviews of coverage, assiduity and success-rate indicators (Article 21), pedagogical and psychological follow-up in the final two days before each holiday (Article 22), the organisation and timing of end-of-year examinations (Article 23), the structure of pupils’ report booklets (Article 24), and the method for calculating the annual average as the sum of the three termly averages divided by three (Article 25).
The Order closes with staff vacation beginning 30 July 2027 and the start of the 2027/2028 administrative year fixed for 30 August 2027, followed by annexes containing the detailed week-by-week schedule and a bilingual glossary of the acronyms used throughout the text (APEE/PTA, CAPIET, CAPIEMP, CLUSTER, DDES/DDSE, DREB/RDBE, DRES/RDSE, EPS/PSE, FENASSCO, GCE Board, MINEDUB, MINESEC, OBC, SDG4, ICT, UNAPED, UNIMAT, and more).
Full Document
The complete official Joint Order, including the full week-by-week breakdown for every term and the annexed glossary, is provided below. Students, parents, teachers and school administrators are encouraged to consult the full PDF for the exact dates and provisions that apply to their institution.
