Practice and Challenges of clustered Primary Schools and Cluster Resource Centres in SNNPRS, Ethiopia

The need for the government to expand education to address the question of access and the demand to enhance quality of education are the double pressures that primary schools in Ethiopia are to tackle. This study was conducted to assess the practices and challenges of clustering primary schools and creating cluster resource centres in some selected zones and special districts of SNNPRS. To accomplish this task a mixed research approach using both quantitative and qualitative data gathering and analysis was employed. Data source for the study were 462 teachers and 205 school leaders (school principals, CRCs focal persons, and experts of woreda education office). The data were collected through questionnaire, interviews, observation and document review. Accordingly, it was explored that the clustered schools and created resource centres in primary schools of the study area were nominal and not organized enough to provide the expected services for the satellite schools. Moreover, the CRCs were not designed up to the level of developing positive attitude among teachers towards change and innovation. Even though internal efficiency of the schools increased, the quality of teaching learning and overall quality of education deteriorated from time to time. These were some of the identified problems which affect the smooth functioning of CRCs. In general the findings imply that in the study area the program did not work as effectively as expected to ensure quality of education and it did not help to realize that primary schools share resources so as to run the teaching learning process efficiently.