Delhi government teachers, Finland trip and LG's nod: The controversy explained

Lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena increased the number of participants from 52 to 87 to ensure that teachers from all zones could benefit from the training programme.

Lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena on Saturday approved a proposal to send a group of Delhi government teachers to Finland for training even as he lambasted the state government for ”arbitrary selection” of the beneficiaries, evoking sharp reaction from the Aam Aadmi Party government which accused the LG of delaying the proposal that led to subsequent cancellation of the programme.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and lieutenant governor VK Saxena

According to a statement by the LG office on Saturday, Saxena increased the number of participants from 52 to 87 to ensure that teachers from all zones could benefit from the training programme. He also asked the government ensure that the participants become “Trainers of Trainees” and they train remaining primary in-charges and teachers; replicate classroom projects adopted by Finland government and submit a report on the learning outcomes from the programme.

In a statement, the Delhi government said that the proposal came too late, and it was pending with the LG office for over a month. “The first batch of government school teachers was scheduled to go to Finland in December 2022, but they could not go because of repeated objections raised by the LG at that time. The next batch was due for March 2023, but the file was pending with the LG office for more than a month, leading to its cancellation as well,” the government said in the statement.

The approval comes after a tussle between the LG office and the state government over sending a group of teachers to Finland in January. The government had sent the file in December, and then resent the file after LG raised some objections to it. While the AAP government in January claimed that the LG has rejected the proposal, Saxena said the he had only sought an assessment of the proposal. During the assembly session in January, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had led AAP MLAs in a march to LG’s house which triggered another war of words.

The proposal moved in December, however, lapsed since the training had to begin in December 2022. The Delhi government then moved a fresh proposal on January 20, to send a batch of 52 teachers to Finland for training.

Then deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, in a letter on February 22, had asked Saxena to approve the file.

While granting approval on Saturday, the LG said, “I accordingly agree in principle, to the proposal of training programme for primary In charges of education department, in Finland, solely in the interest of facilitating an executive decision -- flawed that it may be, rather than joining issues to enable anarchic disruption.”

But, the Delhi government hit out at the LG for altering the decision of the cabinet, which goes against the Supreme Court order of July 4, 2018, and the Constitution. It said that the LG does not have any independent decision making power.

“Now after more than four months of the file was first submitted to him, the LG has once again returned the proposal with amendments in flagrant violation of the Constitution and SC orders. In his amended proposal, the LG has sought to modify the number of teachers to be sent for further training, and also sought to curtail such international training programmes in the future by mandating that the batch of teachers being sent should become teacher trainers for rest of the teachers. The LG’s actions display a complete disregard and disrepect for the advice of SCERT Delhi, the expert body that has overseen all teacher training programmes in Delhi for several decades,” the government said.

The LG also said that government has not clarified on the procedure that was adopted to choose the participants for the training programme, and advised the government to adopt a “fair and transparent” process for identifying the “organisers for the programme”.

“There is nothing on record to show as to what has been the selection procedure to identify the institute for organising the proposed training programmes. It is advised that in all future proposals, the department should essentially adopt a fair and transparent selection process for identifying the organisers for the training programme. For optimal utilisation of the resources and maximising the benefits of the training programmes, it is advisable that these organisers of training programmes should conduct training in India itself for wider coverage in a much shorter time span,” Saxena said in the statement.

The government hit back saying that the proposal was prepared by the experts and duly vetted before being sent to LG office. “The proposal of this training was prepared by SCERT Delhi which is an academic authority of Delhi government under the provision of Right to Education Act 2009. It is a specialised body of the Delhi government having expertise in academic matters. Shortlisting criteria for the first two batches of training was created by the primary branch of directorate of education of the Delhi government. Thereafter, the senior officials of the education department vetted the proposal. LG was required to merely give administrative approval,” the government said.