PESHAWAR: As part of reforms, the elementary and secondary education department is working on a proposal to delegate academic, financial and administrative powers to public educational institutions in the province through a cluster formation of higher secondary schools with its feeder high, middle and primary schools, reveals secretary Mohammad Khalid.
“The proposed school clusters will be strategically led by their respective board of governors and operationally through the cluster leads who will be heads of higher secondary schools. This key reform is aiming to improve learning outcomes in the government schools,” Mr Khalid told Dawn.
He said a school cluster would be established under every government higher secondary school as cluster secretariat and comprising high, middle and primary schools within the cluster.
The secretary said both boys and girls schools would have separate clusters.
Secretary says school clustering programme to have legal cover
He said the planned delegation of powers to the schools level aimed to improve governance, academic support, teachers management and resource utilisation.
Mr Khalid said every cluster of schools would be run through BoG, which would exercise academic, financial, administrative powers, including the powers to appoint teachers within the cluster.
“These powers will be delegated in a phased manner,” he said.
The secretary said the service structure of teachers would neither be changed nor would their promotion prospects diminish after the introduction of the programme.
He said the cluster formation would be done through a proper legal and regulatory framework.
Mr Khalid said the BoG composition would be decided upon the introduction of a legal framework and establishment of clusters.
He said initially, two clusters of government schools each for boys and girls would be established at district level to be expanded to the rest of the district gradually.
Official documents show that the School Cluster Framework 2025 will be meant for a province-wide restructuring of public schools by piloting the innovation into 70 well-defined clusters, each led by a designated Higher Secondary School (HSS).
In every district, one boys’ higher secondary school and one girls’ higher secondary school will be notified as cluster head schools.
All primary, middle and high schools falling within their catchment areas will be mapped to these cluster head schools, transforming each higher secondary school into a vibrant governance hub responsible for academic leadership, administrative coordination, and performance oversight across its feeder schools.
This shift from isolated institutional operations toward structured cluster governance will ensure that planning, supervision and decision-making take place closer to the school and student, according to the documents.
Central to the framework is the redefinition of the principal of the cluster higher school (CHS) as the cluster head, a role that combines academic stewardship with managerial responsibility.
Cluster Heads will be empowered to oversee teacher deployment within rules, conduct school visits and classroom observations, and chair quarterly cluster-level councils comprising the parent-teacher council’s representatives.
This localised leadership will replace fragmented oversight with an integrated, accountable management structure aligned with school needs and community expectations.
A major innovation is the deployment of a dual Subject Specialist model. Analytical Specialists i.e; the existing subject specialists including Statistics, Economics and Civics, stationed at cluster secretariats will support data management, dashboard preparation, budgeting projections and performance tracking.
In parallel, academic specialists i.e. the existing Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, IT and other Science subjects, will rotate across feeder schools to observe classrooms, mentor teachers, support lesson planning and conduct remedial guidance.
Together, these two cadres will close the gap between data-driven planning and classroom-level pedagogy, while also enabling regular cluster-based CPD sessions for teachers.
Financial and resource management are also strengthened within the cluster framework. Each CHS will maintain a Cluster Account Register, consolidating PTC fund information for all mapped schools while keeping individual school sub-ledgers intact.
Community engagement remains a foundational pillar. The cluster council, a quarterly forum of PTC representatives chaired by the cluster head, provides oversight over resource use, out of school children mobilisation, and improvement planning.
This arrangement strengthens local accountability and fosters stronger linkages between schools and their communities. At the student level, periodic intra-cluster academic, sports, and co-curricular events rotate among schools, encouraging motivation, peer learning and healthy competition.
These enhanced facilities also support their role as CPD hubs for teachers from feeder schools. Each cluster will eventually operate under a formally constituted board of governors responsible for oversight, audit, HR recommendations and strategic direction, ensuring institutional stability, regulatory clarity and sustainable governance.
The documents say overall, the School Cluster Framework 2025 aims to create coherent, accountable, and data-driven education ecosystems centered on HSS-led clusters.
Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2025
