Sisodia again writes to LG for approval on Finland file

The Delhi deputy chief minister accused LG VK Saxena of halting the government proposal “unconstitutionally”

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia wrote the Delhi lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena on Tuesday, urging him to approve a training trip to Finland trip for government schoolteachers, adding that politics should not be played over an “important and sensitive” issue.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the file related to the training trip has been sent twice earlier to LG’s office, and has now been pending approval since January 20. (ANI)

Sisodia said that the file related to the training trip has been sent twice earlier to LG’s office, and has now been pending approval since January 20. “The file has been doing rounds of your office since October 2022. You sent the file back twice for seeking clarifications. When the chief minister along with his ministers and MLAs came to meet you to talk about this, you refused to meet us. That day the media on your behalf said that you have not refused to send teachers to Finland. I had sent the file to you again. This time I was hoping that you would approve the trip within 24 hours. But it has been more than 10 days since the file was sent, your nod has not come yet,” Sisodia said.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal retweeted Sisodia’s letter, and said, “I urge Hon’ble LG to allow our teachers to go abroad for training. Hon’ble LG had himself said that he is not against it.” The LG office did not comment on Sisodia’s letter on Tuesday. Earlier, officials had denied the government’s accusations, saying that the LG wanted to advise the government to evaluate the proposal and record its cost benefit so as to assess its effectiveness.

According to officials, the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Delhi, prepared a proposal for a five-day training programme for primary in-charges of Delhi government schools and teacher educators at Jyväskylä University in Finland.

So far, the Delhi government has sent 1,079 teachers to different countries through its various exposure visits and training trips. Of these, 59 teachers have gone to Finland, 420 to Cambridge, and 600 to Singapore.

In the letter dated January 31, Sisodia accused the LG of halting the government proposal “unconstitutionally”.

“Due to this, a delegation of 30 teachers could not be sent for training in December 2022 and now once again in March 2023, the training is on the verge of cancellation. That’s why I request you again to immediately allow the teachers to be sent to Finland for training. There should be no politics on such important and sensitive issues,” Sisodia said.

Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor, however, termed the visit and the controversy as “unnecessary”.

“It is beyond comprehension that how the education system of Delhi will improve by sending some teachers to Finland for training. It is sad that deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia is only creating a situation of administrative conflict by continuously corresponding with the LG over the training of few training in Finland. The education system of Finland should not be compared with that of Delhi,” Kapoor said.

“In Finland, there are special teachers even for subjects such as music, whereas Delhi government schools lack teachers for science and commerce at the secondary classes level. The Kejriwal government should understand that appointing teachers in all schools is more important than training few teachers abroad.”