Plan to boost school standards

"If they have shared resources, they form one same cluster. If one school in a cluster passes the assessment, others in the same cluster will pass too," Onesqa director Somwang Pitiyanuwat said yesterday.

Dr Somwang's office has asked the Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec) to provide information on small-school clusters.

Onesqa earlier completed a second assessment of small schools. In it, more than 6,000 small schools failed to pass Onesqa standards. Of these schools, 4,566 also fell short of expectations in the first round.

However, the two rounds of assessment were based on each school's resources, facilities and environment.

"But things can be much different if these schools are assessed based on their cluster," Somwang said. With proper assessments, it would also be more effective in planning help for small schools.

"We plan to improve small schools' quality," he said.

A quality-improvement project now covers 220 small schools in its pivotal phase.

"We hope to expand the project. Up to 4,000 small schools should be covered," he said, "Following the expansion, this is going to be a mega-project requiring Bt30 billion in funds".

Somwang believed the new government led by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva would support the move.

"I've already talked to the prime minister and he has shown an interest in the idea," Somwang said, adding that Abhisit had assigned Education Minister Jurin Laksanawisit to discuss the issue in detail.