Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs, on Monday, held a protest march towards Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena’s office alleging that the Lieutenant Governor was creating hurdles in the Delhi government’s works.
The protest march was held after the Delhi Assembly adjourned for the day on Monday amid heated exchanges between BJP and AAP MLAs over the government’s “inaction” to fight pollution and the lieutenant governor’s alleged interference in the functioning of the government.
Kejriwal and the AAP members were carrying placards reading, “Let the teacher go to Finland”, during the protest march.
The AAP and the lieutenant governor are at loggerheads over a training visit to Finland by Delhi government school teachers. The party alleged that the LG had sent back the files pertaining to sending the teachers to Finland twice, citing different grounds.
“We had to send 30 teachers to Finland in March, but the LG sent its file back with objections. Again, we submitted our reply to the objections but the LG has again sent it back with a remark that a cost benefit analysis should be done,” Sisodia said.
The AAP had also alleged that both the LG and the BJP were “conspiring against” the education system of the National Capital.
Meanwhile, sources said Saxena reiterated that he has not rejected a proposal to send Delhi government teachers for a training programme to Finland.
According to the sources, the LG had not rejected the request, and any statement on the contrary is “deliberately misleading and mischievously motivated.” The sources claimed that the LG has advised the government to look at programmes within the country instead to ensure optimal resource utilisation, fiscal prudence and administrative effectiveness.
In a tweet on Monday, Kejriwal said,” Hon’ble LG saying he never rejected teachers’ Finland training proposal. If that is the case, Hon’ble LG may kindly write me a letter immediately saying that he has no objection to the teachers’ training proposal in Finland and the matter will be over?”
Meanwhile, the Raj Niwas tweeted, “The LG has not rejected the proposal of training program for Primary-in-charges in Finland. Any statement, on the contrary, is misleading and mischievously motivated,”
A subsequent tweet by Raj Niwas read, “The Govt has been advised to evaluate the proposal in totality and record the cost-benefit analysis in tangible terms, so as to assess the effectiveness of various foreign training programmes for teachers undertaken in the past.”
It also advised the Delhi government to examine and identify similar training programmes in the Institutions of Excellence, within the country, “so as to ensure optimal utilization of resources, fiscal prudence and administrative effectiveness”.
The series of tweets by the LG came in the wake of Sisodia’s allegation condemning the alleged refusal for the training programme. Sisodia had on January 12 said that the restrictions on such training by the lieutenant governor are an attack on education.
As per a Delhi government release, the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has planned to send two groups of 30 teachers to Jyvaskyla University in Finland in December 2022 and March 2023. The 5-day training programme is meant for primary in-charges of Delhi government schools and teacher educators of SCERT. Under this, SCERT has made a budget provision in its annual plan and SCERT has been given a grant in aid by the Delhi government for conducting such training programmes.