Clash continues from Delhi government’s teacher training in Finland
Amid the ongoing row over the teacher training program in Finland between the Delhi government and the Lt. Governor, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia on Friday alleged that LG VK Saxena is “trying to stall the file” again. AAP leaders, including Kalkaji MLA Atishi, also held a protest outside the LG House over the issue.
LG House called the accusations “motivated” and “misleading” and said: “LG has not rejected the proposal for a priority education program in Finland. Any claims to the contrary are misguided and mischievously motivated.”
Delhi Government officials said on Thursday that the LG asked the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) to submit a “concrete cost-benefit analysis”.
Alleging that LG had returned the Finland file twice, Kejriwal Friday said, “Soldiers sacrifice their lives to protect the country and get Rs 50,000-60,000 a month. The day a soldier starts costing his life, neither you nor the country will survive. We are making our children’s future and you are asking for a cost-benefit analysis of their future.
He added: “I have two children and I spent my entire salary on them. I can’t do a cost-benefit analysis of how much I spent… You can’t do a cost-benefit analysis of some things.”
At a separate press conference earlier in the day, Sisodia took aim at the LG and said, “Around 1,079 teachers and principals of Delhi government schools have gone to UK, US and other countries for teacher training programmes. The BJP could not do any good work in the states it has ruled for 15 years so they are using LG to spoil the work of other really working governments.
“It is noteworthy that the consent-in-principle and administrative approval were received at the LG’s office on 25 October 2022. He returned the file to the Secretary General on 10/11/2022 to request three clarifications/objections. SCERT Delhi clarified these points and resubmitted the file to LG office on 14.12.2022. After this, LG will ask for two more clarifications and return the file to the CM on September 1, 2023,” the minister said.
Sisodia said around 30 teachers would go on this trip. “A file regarding the same was sent to LG for approval in October, but to delay the process, he wrote in the file that in the Finnish university where the teachers are sent for training, do they have experience or not and do they follow DOPT guidelines or not. In response to this, the file was sent back to LG. Then he asked to have the cost-benefit analysis done and to get such training in the country itself.”
Reading the LG’s comments on the Suomi file returned to the government, Sisodia said, “Since our government came in, the pass percentage of Delhi government schools has increased from 75% to 99.6%. Our students are taking NEET and JEE and other competitive exams without any coaching. What more cost-benefit analysis do you want ? This is the result of good teaching.”
He added that Finland’s education system is considered the best in the world: “We sent our teachers to different countries so that they can get information about educational reforms in different parts of the world. But since BJP people are illegally occupying the service department, Delhi government has to send teachers training file to LG.
Attacking LG, Sisodia said, “CBA is a great ploy to stop all work. LG creates so many conspiracies every day that if his CBA is done, LG’s office will have to be closed today itself. Right now the World an economic forum where the PM goes, all the BJP CMs with their families and all the ministers go. So what is the cost-benefit analysis of that?”
Raj Niwas replied, “The government has been advised to evaluate the proposal in its entirety and record the cost-benefit analysis concretely to assess the effectiveness of the various foreign teacher training programs implemented in the past. The LG has also advised to study and identify similar training programs in top educational institutions of the country to ensure optimal utilization of resources, fiscal prudence and administrative efficiency .