Act to end ‘bias’ in DoE promotions, Delhi LG urged

Delhi Assembly Speaker said women teachers, despite being higher in overall experience, are often made to wait many years for promotion, while male teachers are promoted faster.

Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta on Thursday wrote to Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena demanding intervention in alleged “gender-based discrimination” in the promotion policies of the Delhi government’s Directorate of Education (DoE).

Continued promotions under the old system risk further deepening gender imbalance and administrative injustice, Gupta stressed. (HT PHOTO)

In his letter on Thursday, Gupta forwarded a representation from a teachers’ welfare society, Unified Development Initiative of Teachers and Administrators (UDITA), which alleged that separate seniority lists are maintained for male and female teachers.

Women teachers, despite being higher in overall experience and numbers, are often made to wait many years for promotion, while male teachers are promoted faster, Gupta wrote in the letter.

Although the matter is pending before the Delhi High Court and the department had previously indicated the lists would be merged, Gupta stated promotions continue under the old gender-specific system. In his letter, he urged LG Saxena to issue necessary directions to DoE to consolidate the seniority lists immediately and ensure promotions are carried out equally and justly.

Gupta also recalled that Saxena’s office had advised the concerned department to re-examine the issue in consultation with the government’s standing counsel and all stakeholders, with a view to initiating the merger of gender-based seniority lists without any distinction between male and female candidates. However, continued promotions under the old system risk further deepening gender imbalance and administrative injustice, Gupta stressed.