Sisodia writes to saxena reminds him to clear file on teachers’ finland visit

Sisodia writes to saxena reminds him to clear file on teachers’ finland visit

Raj Niwas officials say 6,112 teachers were appointed in 4 months to address ‘skyrocketing’ vacancies in Delhi govt. schools after L-G’s ‘nudge’; Kejriwal too requests Saxena to let teachers travel abroad.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday wrote to Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena asking him to immediately approve the proposal to send Delhi government teachers to Finland for training. The Deputy CM said that the file, which Mr. Saxena had twice returned to the Delhi government, had been sent to Raj Niwas for the third time on January 20.

While the L-G did not comment on why the file hasn’t been cleared yet, a Raj Niwas official remarked upon the ‘grim state of affairs’ in the Delhi government schools, where teachers’ vacancies were ‘skyrocketing’. The official added that over 6,000 teachers were appointed during the last four months by the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB) after ‘constant nudging’ by the L-G. Mr. Saxena held a meeting on the recruitment of Delhi government teachers on Tuesday.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Deputy CM have repeatedly attacked the L-G over his decision to return the Delhi government proposal, terming it an attack on Delhi’s education model. On January 16, the CM led a march of his MLAs to Raj Niwas over the issue.

In a recent letter to the CM, Mr. Saxena clarified that he had not rejected the proposal and questioned whether a five-day trip to Finland would serve any purpose of substantive training.

CM also tweets

Mr. Sisodia said the training of 30 teachers, due to go to Finland in March 2023, ‘was on the verge of cancellation’.

Mr. Kejriwal also posted a tweet urging the L-G to ‘allow our teachers to go abroad for training. Hon’ble LG had himself said that he is not against it’.

While Raj Niwas did not respond on the issue of teachers’ training, its officials said 6,112 teachers had been appointed in the Delhi government schools in the last four months.

The L-G House officials added that in a meeting held in September last year, Mr. Saxena found 24,003 vacant teachers’ posts in the Delhi government schools.

The officials said this number had been brought down to 17,891 due to Mr. Saxena’s efforts.

‘The present grim state of affairs in the Delhi government schools, with vacancies skyrocketing, resulted because requisition for regular recruitment of teachers was not made during the last seven years of the AAP government,’ officials at Raj Niwas also said.