SCHOOL–BASED MANAGEMENT
THROUGH CLUSTER SCHOOLS:
A CASE STUDY FROM CAMBODIA
Anne H. Dykstra1 & Pawan Kucita2
Its education system gutted by years of civil war, Cambodia’s
surviving schools are banding together to rebuild the country’s
once proud educational legacy. By decentralising authority and encouraging community participation in decision-making, the cluster
school structure promotes ownership of schools by students,
parents and local educators. Anne H. Dykstra and Pawan Kucita
describe how clusters of village schools are finding strength – and
needed resources – in numbers.
BACKGROUND__________________________________________________
rganised education in Cambodia does not have a long history. In 1900,
there were seven teachers at the one primary school for Khmer students
in Phnom Penh. In 1944, approximately 500 Khmer students per year
completed their primary education certificate, but by 1950 enrolments
had risen to approximately 20,000 primary students and 1,000 Khmer secondary
students. From 1950 through 1970, there was a major quantitative increase in
the number of schools and, because of this, greater access to a basic education
for many students. This was accompanied by a state policy establishing a
system of primary schools rather than allowing the management of primary
education to rest predominantly with temple schools controlled by the Sangha
(clergy). In 1962, three universities opened in Cambodia and by 1968, there
were nine. The quality and number of teachers increased. Estimates are that
there were one million educated youth in 1967 or approximately 20% of the
Khmer population.
O
The destruction of schools began in late March 1970 during heavy fighting and
bombing which was an adjunct to the Vietnam War. The war escalated and was
especially destructive in 1970–71. Between 1974 and 1979, foreigners left as the
1
2
Education Project Officer, UNICEF Lao PDR.
Consultant, UNICEF, Cambodia.
1
country withdrew in isolation from the outside world and experienced a tragic civil
war. School buildings were destroyed or put to other uses as communal
kitchens, dormitories, storehouses or prisons. There was virtually no formal
classroom education during this time, and books and teaching materials were
destroyed. The remaining schools were abandoned and the majority of teachers
died or left the country. The 35–year old educational system was shattered
almost before it began.
At the end of the civil war in late 1979, a new socialist government was formed
and began to re–establish the country’s education system as a priority. There
remained only a scattered and traumatised group of educators numbering fewer
than 5,000. Those that could, returned to teach, and roughly 1,000 were
recruited to become administrators of schools and to form a ministry of
education. Those that taught gathered students in remaining schools or temples,
makeshift palm–thatch classrooms or under trees. New teachers were recruited
from citizens who could read and write, crash–training was undertaken to provide
basic teaching skills, and the government mobilised rice as payment for the
growing cadre. The effort to rebuild schools was severely impeded by the
continued critical shortage of teachers and school buildings, as well as shortages
of the most basic teaching materials and supplies, including school furnishings,
blackboards, chalk, paper, pens and pencils.
In spite of many constraints, the country’s school system expanded rapidly. By
1981, more than 1.5 million children were attending primary and lower secondary
classes (grades 1–4 and 5–8, respectively). The number of primary school
students exceeded the estimated number of children 6–10 due to enrolment of
large numbers of older children whose education had been interrupted by war.
During this period, UNICEF provided emergency supplies for school repair and
teaching supplies and restarted the publishing house. NGOs worked to train
teachers, to build schools, and develop pilot projects in education. In 1991, Redd
Barna, the Norwegian NGO, began administration of cluster schools in three
provinces. The project focused on teacher training at the local level and provided
training to instructors at the provincial teacher training college. Supervision of
teacher training in primary schools in the cluster was provided through the
provincial teacher–training college and Redd Barna staff in co–operation with
district and local educators.
2
Schools continued to expand even though classes were taught on a four–hour,
double–shift schedule, six days a week, because the supply of teachers and
classrooms remained critically short. Classes with 70–80 students in the first and
second grade were routine in cities and major towns while small schools in
sparsely populated areas were often only one or two grades, a branch school of
a five–grade school 5
to 10 kilometres away.
The overall objective of cluster schools is to
The rapid expansion of
redress any imbalance in education by groupstudents was achieved
ing schools that are located near each other
at the expense of eduinto a cluster, mixing strong schools and discational quality. The
advantaged schools in such a way that the
wastage rate included
latter benefit from the advantages of the
high primary school reformer.
petition (approximately
40% in first grade). Of
those
starting
first
grade in 1989, only 13% finished fifth grade in 1994. Although the national Gross
Enrolment Rate (GER) was 83%, children in remote areas, especially in the
mountains, had a GER of only 40–60%.
In large measure, the high wastage could be attributed to the lack of qualified
and trained teachers. Less than 1% of the working teachers in Cambodia had
finished 11th grade in 1992, and their teaching depended on rote learning
because they themselves did not possess the basic skills in mathematics and
Khmer to teach these foundation subjects.
THE
INNOVATION___________________________________________________
In 1993, in co–operation with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport
(MOEYS), an integrated educational programme began. At the same time, the
ministry began the reform of education. As part of the support for capacity
building, UNICEF established cluster school pilot projects in four provinces.
DEFINITION AND OBJECTIVES OF CLUSTER SCHOOLS
The overall objective of cluster schools is to redress any imbalance in education
by grouping schools that are located near each other into a cluster, mixing strong
schools and disadvantaged schools in such a way that the latter benefit from the
3
advantages of the former. As stated in the Guideline for Cluster Schools issued
by the National Cluster School Committee, MOEYS:
A cluster school is a grouping of 6–9 primary schools for administrative
and educational purposes. It is an organisation of schools in the same
vicinity or neighbouring villages which are grouped together for the
benefit of sharing available resources such as teaching and learning
materials, facilities and staff so that the access for all children and the
educational quality of all schools within the cluster are improved. The
model implies a degree of decentralisation and also permits strong local
participation in decisions.
The ministry also
set objectives for
the cluster school
project in four main
areas:
The model implies a degree of decentralization
and also permits a strong local participation in
decision making.
1. Economic Objectives
The country could not afford basic equipment such as supplemental readers,
science materials, or even silk screen supplies and paper for each school.
Therefore, by furnishing one resource centre with equipment and supplies that
allowed teachers to make learning aids, several schools benefited. The clusters
therefore had an economic objective: sharing facilities and staff, and bulk
ordering of materials such as stationery, chalk, paper and other supplies for the
cluster. Conservation of supplies such as promoting systems for the return of
school books and better maintenance of schools were also more efficient within
a cluster system. Resource centres permit teachers to participate in ongoing in–
service training without distant travel. Although an unplanned bonus, teachers
have used cluster schools to form a larger pool of money to which they
contribute a small amount each month and from which they can borrow when
needed.
2. Pedagogic Objectives
Improved student learning would be achieved through a variety of strategies to
be carried out through clusters equalising student access to teacher specialists
and resources (such as supplementary readers), in–service training every
Thursday and mutual sharing of the experiences among the teachers. Also,
teachers had the opportunity to pilot new curricular materials that the ministry
4
with UNICEF support developed, along with academic competition and
evaluation to motivate better performance. Teachers in cluster schools worked
on setting and monitoring of learning goals and standards according to the newly
adopted competencies in language and math for students.
3. Administrative Objectives
Improved administration was sought at all levels through simplifying paperwork,
authorisation procedures and communication processes primarily by working
through the cluster school heads for micro–planning, personnel management,
and resource mobilisation instead of trying to contact every headmaster.
Authority to supervise and monitor teachers, goal achievement and other
functions was devolved to cluster heads.
4. School–Community Objectives
Community participation in schools, not only in construction but in many other
aspects of school management and learning, was promoted by involving parentteacher associations (PTAs) in localising curriculum, monitoring school services,
or mobilising children to enrol at the correct age. Local policies for the use of the
cluster schools as a learning centre for adults and a delivery centre for other
services by development and community agencies were formulated by cluster
committees or PTAs.
5
ORGANISATION OF INDIVIDUAL CLUSTERS
CLUSTER SCHOOL HEAD
Elected by principals and teacher representatives from the cluster schools
CLUSTER SCHOOL COMMITTEE







Village Chief, Honorary Chair
Cluster School Head
Headmasters of schools in the cluster
Teacher representatives elected from each school
A representative of the PTAs (elected)
Head of Cluster Technical Committee
Member of Sangha (monks) according to the wishes of the community
SCHOOLS (6 GRADES) & BRANCH SCHOOLS (LESS THAN 6 GRADES) IN THE CLUSTER




Principal
Technical Committee: Senior teachers in each subject, appointed by the
headmaster
Teachers
PTA
CLUSTER TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

Heads of Technical Committees from each school in the cluster
NATIONAL CLUSTER SCHOOL COMMITTEE
The first activity of the project was to form the National Cluster School
Committee (NCSC) under the General Education Department. It was staffed by
12 educators who were technicians from various departments in MOEYS. Within
the first year, the NCSC drafted cluster school guidelines, including definitions
for the role and function of each level of the cluster, indicators for the
6
measurement of wastage within the cluster and an accompanying training
syllabus. There was close collaboration of the four provincial offices of education
chosen as cluster school pilot sites with technical advisers and partner NGOs in
the development of the structure, role, responsibilities and objectives of cluster
schools as stated in the guidelines.
Thereafter began an overall co–ordination of each provincial pilot project by
forming teams of two or three NCSC members each assigned to a province. The
team became the facilitator of the planning process for the cluster, and reviewed
renovation and construction plans, academic goals, work plans, and budgets.
They provided information about the progress of the cluster to officials and
committees at each level. Similarly, they gave information about conditions in
schools and problems faced by students and teachers to the minister and central
department heads. They solved contractor disputes, facilitated the delivery of
supplies, helped schedule textbook tryouts, evaluated teacher training in the
cluster, organised material exchanges, reviewed localised adaptations of cluster
operations and gave technical assistance in organising PTAs.
COMMON RESPONSIBILITIES OF PROVINCIAL, DISTRICT AND CLUSTER COMMITTEES
A cluster school committee is formed at each level. Their common functions are
to set goals for access to education and reduction of wastage rates. They
implement educational reform, each at an appropriate level and speciality,
monitor the distribution of supplies and facilitate the construction and repair of
school buildings. More importantly, they work vertically to assure that there is
communication between levels and regular consultation to solve problems. They
also work horizontally to provide training in concepts of cluster management and
supervision. As cluster schools became nationalised, skilful teachers or
education officials at the provincial, district or cluster levels, who had gained
adequate experience from the project, became national trainers for new clusters
in order to expand the model.
There is close liaison with civil authorities and all cluster committees in matters
of security, transparency in systems designed to account for money, data
verification, and problem solving in the distribution of supplies in construction. In
addition to work that is common in any cluster, there are specific functions at
each level:

Provincial Cluster School Committee
7
Provincial cluster committees organise a yearly training calendar for
supervisors and headmasters and are responsible for the supply of teachers
to clusters. This may mean training untrained teachers where there have
been no classes for many years, especially when new clusters begin in
remote areas. They approve new clusters, construction plans, and budgets
and submit them to the NCSC for final authorisation and verification of
projected costs.

District Cluster School Committee
The district education office is responsible for the operation of clusters within
district boundaries, and for achievement of the workplan to meet the district
education goals. They house the newly trained inspectors who work with
teachers and supervisors in the cluster to implement curriculum reform. The
district supervises cluster school heads.

Cluster Head and Cluster School Committee
The cluster school head supervises all headmasters in the cluster, sets the
teacher–training schedule with other members of the committee, and assures
that materials from the resource centre and teachers are supplied equally to
all schools in the cluster. Cluster school heads are given the authority to
inspect teachers and to make decisions on how to maximise the use of
resources available in their own clusters. They may reassign teachers to
schools that have a sudden jump in enrolment or lack instruction in a specific
subject. They are the liaison to the community, to schools in the cluster and
to the district. They are the advocates for their cluster through the ministry
chain of authority and to civil authorities.
Every cluster maintains a resource centre where teachers come to share and
make teaching aids. Books and expensive supplies, such as science
equipment or musical instruments, are circulated among the schools in the
cluster on a regular basis. Resource centres display data and graphs on
wastage, and disseminate other information to educators and community
members. The resource centre provides a place for special services, such as
eye examinations and lending libraries. It can also function as an
administrative centre for non–formal education classes and recreation
events. The cluster school head oversees the resource centre operation and
its use by educators and the community and also supervises the cluster
8
school technical committee responsible for the improvement of teachinglearning in member schools.

Technical Committees and Teacher Training
Technical committees are responsible for the improvement of teaching and
learning especially in support of the new curriculum. The cluster school
technical committee establishes a training calendar for teachers. Cambodian
policy sets every Thursday as an in–service day. The agenda for weekly
training meetings include the preparation of lesson plans, development of
teaching aids, class demonstrations and a summary of the weekly meeting as
well as plans for the next month. Usually, teachers from various schools take
turns meeting at the resource centre to make teaching aids and, on alternate
weeks, they meet at their schools for other training events. There are often
cluster–wide training events in the resource centre especially when new
textbooks are introduced.
With support from UNICEF, Save the Children Fund Australia implemented
an intensive teacher training model for working teachers. Within the project,
they trained teacher–educators from the four cluster pilot projects along with
those teacher–educators they had identified for their own project. These
teachers returned to their home province and became technical teachers in
local clusters. Once home, they organised intensive training sessions during
school holidays, followed by weekly training sessions for small groups of
teachers, and finally, supervision as follow–up to improve classroom
applications of new methods.
PARENT–TEACHER ASSOCIATIONS
In Cambodia, parents and communities traditionally contribute to school
construction and renovation. In some remote villages, community members have
recruited their own teachers and pay them in rice or by giving them land for
farming, helping with planting and harvesting, or providing equipment and
training for fishing. The cluster schools build on this tradition but also involve
parents and communities in educating their children. At the initiation of a cluster,
PTAs are formed for each school, and parents and teachers survey all school–
age children in the cluster catchment area to ensure that they are enrolled in
schools. PTAs help verify the reasons why children drop–out or don’t attend
school and they set goals to remedy these problems.
9
PTA members assist in monitoring supplies delivered to the cluster from all
levels and assure that local teachers and children receive and care for them.
They participate in reporting processes at local schools and the cluster to assure
that progress toward goals from school to school continues at an equal pace. By
joining monitoring groups from provincial or district levels, they participate in
public receipt of money given to the school or cluster.
PTAs or the cluster school committee form construction committees which
mobilise the money, supplies, labour, land and material from the community in
order to repair or build schools. They decide if the school will be built with
community skill and labour or through contracted help. Whatever choice is
made, they oversee construction and maintenance. The range of community
contribution, which varies from school to school, is approximately 15 to 40% of
the total construction cost of a school, excluding land which is also often donated
by citizens. Thus far, the rural population contributes a greater percentage to
school construction and repair than city families while the least amount is
contributed by minority committees who are very poor. As the cluster evolves,
PTAs become more able to use data to measure goals, to participate in the
formation of policy for the use of schools and resource centres for non–formal
education and community activities, to help produce materials, and to take part
in localising curriculum.
Parents are powerful advocates and they want their children to receive a good
education. In one
province, many parents moved their
[P]arents from the floating fishing village on
children to study in
Tonle Sap Lake tried to organise their own
schools where clusschools but could only furnish classrooms and
ters operated even if
teachers (whom they recruited) for about 25% of
the children were
the school–age children. They . . . journeyed for
boarded during the
two days to . . . [ask for] help [in] planning
week with relatives.
floating cluster schools . . . . [A] few months later,
In another case, pathey had formed their own cluster school PTA. . .
rents from the float.
ing fishing village on
Tonle Sap Lake tried to organise their own schools but could only furnish classrooms and teachers
(whom they recruited) for about 25% of the school–age children. They learned of
cluster schools from other parents in the town when they came to market and
afterwards, journeyed for two days to the provincial education office to insist that
10
someone come to see their community and their children and help them plan
floating cluster schools. By the time the officials arrived a few months later, they
had formed their own cluster school PTA even though schools were lacking and
all members themselves were illiterate.
SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION
Schools are spare and simply built in Cambodia. There is a standard model
which consists of five rooms, a cement foundation, concrete floors, and walls
which are 1/3 brick from the ground up and, thereafter, board and batten topped
with a tile roof. The roof provides a wide overhang to protect the building and
occupants from rain. Sometimes there is no concrete floor and the roof is
corrugated metal sheets. There is no insulation or glass windows, rather there
are simple shutters with drop–bolt locks to secure them. Electricity and water are
rarely found except in some town or city schools. After schools are constructed,
another project is organised to provide children with water and latrines.
Because school construction is an activity that parents and community members
traditionally undertake, and because it is so visible, the process for working with
the community to plan the building location, its size and furniture is used to
introduce basic management and reporting to school officials and PTA
members. These basic lessons in cost are also tied to information about
education.
At the finish of all repairs and construction in a cluster, a large ceremony is held
for the ministry officials at every level, the cluster head, headmasters, PTAs,
community members, monks, students, NGOs, UNICEF staff and visiting
dignitaries. As part of the dedication of the cluster, after the opening prayers of
the monks, the cluster school committee verbally accounts for moneys spent on
construction and the district and provincial levels do the same. Various
representatives of the cluster give the community and technical committees
goals they have set to improve children’s education. The students present
dances and greet the guests with flowers and the traditional bow. In some
clusters, students and teachers have written their own “cluster school song”
which is proudly sung. Ribbons are cut to the new classrooms and everyone
looks at teacher–made materials, along with charts showing enrolment, gender,
dropout and repeater rates, and school pictures before and after construction.
A resource centre consists of three rooms, one used for a library, and a double
room with a sliding partition which is used for training and materials production.
11
The resource centre also serves as a community meeting place. Most often, a
five room school building is constructed and three rooms are used as the
resource centre while two rooms are used as classrooms. The cost is marginal
for the added two classrooms when figuring the price of a three–room building.
IMPACT_______________________________________________________
As a result of the cluster school pilot project sponsored by MOEYS and UNICEF
from 1995–1996, the cluster school model and in-service teacher training
programme were recognised and adopted by MOEYS as a national programme.
Expansion of this model, funded by the MOEYS and USAID, amounted to US
$30,000,000 within a five-year period and began operation in September, 1996.
NGOs who helped to implement the original UNICEF pilot are working to expand
the model. The first
round of coverage
The first round of coverage trained 4,200
trained 4,200 working
working teachers and established 72 new
teachers and estabcluster schools . . . . Further expansion will
lished 72 new cluster
take place each year . . . until all working
schools with a total
teachers are trained and schools are clustered
student population of
throughout the country.
246,153. Further expansion will take place
each year through the
year 2000 until all working teachers are trained and schools are clustered
throughout the country. This expansion, however, may be restricted by a
temporary withdrawal of support brought about by the July 1997 political crisis.
The UNICEF project now supports 44 clusters in 6 provinces having added two
provinces in 1995, all which cover a student enrolment of 135,827. Redd Barna
now supports 23 clusters in 4 provinces which covers a student enrolment of
148,072 and Taipei Overseas Peace Services also support a number of clusters.
The total number of clusters established by these means is 145 with a total
student enrolment of 551,755 (29% of total student population). All provinces
have mapped their schools and grouped them into clusters. It is estimated that
there will be a total of approximately 631 school clusters throughout Cambodia.
The effort to establish cluster schools is dynamic and young. It is too early to
show results that can be generalised to the national effort. However, an
encouraging trend toward improved wastage rates has been shown in two
12
provinces. Some of this improvement can be attributed to a better understanding
of wastage indicators, such as not counting students who move to another
school and enrol nor those who leave for rice harvest and return in the same
school year as enrolled twice and dropped once. However, increases in
enrolment and the improved repeater rate seem to be genuine improvements.
LESSONS LEARNED_____________________________________________
The project is heavily process–driven, as opposed to using materials as the
primary input. Material
support is not given
. . . PROCESS [was considered] as the major
without defining the
product. In this context, process means creatprocess connected to
ing opportunities for practice by all particithe item and the edupants through training and coaching . . .
cational objective (see
SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION
above for examples).
The UNICEF staff considered process as the major product. Process techniques
and the reasons for them were taught to all levels of ministry staff, parent
committee members, teachers and headmasters. In this context, process means
creating opportunities for practice by all participants through training and
coaching, for example:

Educators and parents need to agree that education is important for children
and to understand why this is so. For illiterate parents, a concrete idea of why
education is important is not obvious because they support their families
without its benefit. Therefore, a constant need is to formulate concrete,
practical objectives with parents for improving their children’s education,
health and well–being. Information and data to measure progress toward
goals along with transparent processes create this understanding.

More participatory conduct of meetings, conference organisation and
management was practised by organising, for one example, the first national
PTA conference. Companion skills, such as minute-taking and their use for
accountability, were taught as well as appropriate dissemination of
information from the meetings or conference. Conference participants also
learned skills necessary to lead a delegation with an agenda followed by
reports on outcomes and follow–up on new objectives. These skills were
used by educators and parents visiting other clusters to see examples of
13
good practice, to participate in international conferences and to lead donor
delegations through the project.

A wide variety of events both locally and nationally were sponsored by the
NCSC. Three examples are: The Annual National Materials Fair for teachers
and supervisors which featured demonstrations of the best products and
methods from resource centres and technical committees; construction
conferences which compared materials lists, blueprints, building techniques
and strategies for NGO/UNICEF/ministry and building committee heads; and
a national meeting on cluster school guidelines, with validation by provincial
education officers and central ministry officials, with NGOs and UNICEF as
resource experts.

Other practice included presentation and planning tools such as gathering
objective data, analysing and presenting it visually, Gant charts, flow charts,
budget presentations, diagramming, using simple and complex data,
questioning, verifying verbal and written information, and matching data to
goals and objectives. Companion skills, such as the use of overhead
projectors and working with translators, were also taught. As the project
progressed, technical assistance was also given in the analysis of proposals,
sector plans, and macro-planning figures for budget use and strategies for
ways to lobby for needed support at various levels.

Management processes began with what participants want their children to
learn (competencies and values), functional job descriptions within the cluster
organisation for all key positions and committees, goal setting, monitoring
and evaluation by observation and reporting systems that match curriculum
reform and goals of the cluster, community relations and how to foster
support and participation in children’s education, and maintaining files that
will pass an audit.
Process Truths:
1. Process is not necessarily cheap.
2. Process takes time for people to learn and practice.
3. Process is not visible nor easily measured especially in the initial
stages.
4. Process is not a random event and must be planned and evaluated.
5. Attention to process assures greater transferability, retention and use
of new skills.
14
6. Process must match the intended use of any material support; for
example, surveying all village children to set attendance and
enrolment goals with PTAs prior to designing and building schools.
7. Process is most useful when it matches the goals and the needs of the
people who must do the work.
INSTITUTIONALISATION AND POLICY
Early in the project, the technical experts and the NCSC agreed that attention
should be given to the documentation of system and policy at each step of
cluster development. Therefore, beginning with the drafting of cluster school
guidelines, the NCSC worked to see that necessary authorisations, by function,
were issued by the ministry as needed; for example, the authority given
headmasters to reassign teachers within the cluster or the authority given to
PTAs to participate in school based meetings. In 1996, a general policy was
issued which endorsed cluster schools as the national mode for school
administration. The constant attention to new policy needs promoted
involvement, understanding, and joint problem–solving between local schools
and higher levels. This process built a steady commitment to clusters at the
highest levels. It also promoted greater acceptance of new ideas at local levels
where there was still a fear of trying new methods or ideas without official
approval.
PARENT/COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Parent and community involvement from the beginning of cluster formation
builds new levels of trust between families, school staff and local authorities. In a
nation healing from a long civil war, trust is a precious thing. Parental
participation can guarantee transparency and accountability of both material and
education resources when they are genuinely allowed to participate in
management of schools. Parental participation is not expected to substitute for
good school management or teaching excellence, but if both the educators and
the community are committed to support education, barriers can be overcome. If
there is a strong will to address problems, they can be readily solved. By
understanding the education process necessary to educate their children,
parents can make sure that every school–age child in the village arrives at
school ready to learn and that the school, in turn, is ready to teach the child.
15
The bond between the community and schools becomes stronger when the
cluster begins to return services to the community. Cluster resource centres
have purchased solar panels or batteries
so that there is light in
In the broader context of rebuilding the nation’s
some classrooms at
social contracts, one with another, and between
night for citizens to
government and the communities, cluster schuse as a meeting
ools provide a structure, clear goals, and a conplace, or lending litinuous reason to be successful — the improvebrary.
Community
ment of children’s education.
sports events held in
the
school
playground,
or
other
recreational events provide family fun and entertainment. The cluster resource
centre can become a centre for short courses on a variety of subjects for
community members. As well, health fairs and all manner of information can be
disseminated from the schools or resource centre in a cluster. In the broader
context of rebuilding the nation’s social contracts, one with another, and between
government and the communities, cluster schools provide a structure, clear
goals, and a continuous reason to be successful—the improvement of children’s
education.
ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISMS
Whether setting educational, access or financial goals, four mechanisms
increase accountability and transparency between community members, teachers and ministry officials:
1. Endorsement of local plans to improve education by local community
members, monks, educators, and civil authorities.
2. Expression of yearly plans as quarterly goals which are posted along with
data showing the rate of accomplishment. Posting of data is done during
cluster school meetings.
3. Use of public meetings attended by ranking local, provincial and state officials
to report on the utilisation of moneys. Reports should be given by the PTA
and/or cluster school chairman.
16
4. Approval of budgets by ministry officials for cluster school improvements or
activities in writing to the cluster school committee though the provincial
education office. The turnover of moneys or resources is completed by
central or provincial authorities at a public meeting. The accepting committee
then reports the intended use for the moneys received and the projected date
of completion. All people on the project committee are introduced at this time.
CONCLUSION
The cluster school structure is an adaptable,
cost-effective model which promotes ownership
of schools by students, parents and community
members, supervisors and local education
officials.
The cluster schools
are now part of the
national reform of education in Cambodia.
They provide the Ministry of Education with
the structure to implement new policies which promote the formation of parent–
teacher associations, retrain supervisors in management of schools so that
efficiency and learning increase, and provide for the systematic, ongoing training
of teachers in methods and content which match the new curriculum and
textbooks. Cluster schools foster a two–way learning process which is facilitated
from both ends of the administrative hierarchy and includes community
members. The national level staff gain lessons from the local level and vice
versa. Improved resources, school facilities and teacher quality raise parent
understanding and expectations for greater learning and achievement for their
children. The cluster structure is an adaptable, cost–effective model which
promotes ownership of schools by students, parents and community members,
supervisors and local education officials. It provides a structure that can be used
for educational investment and as a community resource.
Cluster schools are only a part of the education reform in Cambodia. New
textbooks are being introduced year by year, a new education management
information system has been instituted, a new curriculum introduced, and the
outdated student testing system will be changed. There is much more to be
done. The ultimate success of the cluster school initiative can be achieved if the
systems put in place continue to evolve to meet the needs of children and their
families and if enough time and resources are provided to this young effort.
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