Govt again sends Finland training prog file to L-G
New Delhi: The Delhi government has “again sent” a proposal to the Lt Governor to allow teachers of its schools to attend a training programme in Finland and in it noted that a cost-benefit analysis had been done, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Friday.
Lt Governor VK Saxena had allegedly rejected a similar proposal earlier, asking the Delhi government to conduct the analysis.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed hope that permission would be granted for the teachers to travel abroad for the programme.
Sisodia, who is also the Education minister, said in a tweet in Hindi, “The proposal to send Delhi government teachers to Finland for training has been sent again to the L-G.”
While returning the earlier proposal, Saxena had asked the AAP government to conduct the programme’s cost-benefit analysis. Delhi government officials claimed that Saxena had stalled the Finland-based training twice by placing objections over the file despite the elected government’s approval.
Members of the AAP, led by Atishi, protested outside the Lt Governor’s residence last week over the issue.
The Raj Niwas, however, said at the time that the “L-G has not rejected the proposal for the training programme for primary-in-charges in Finland. Any statement on the contrary is misleading and mischievously motivated”.
Quoting Sisodia’s tweet, Kejriwal said, “I hope the Hon’ble L-G will permit Delhi government school teachers to go abroad for training.”
The fresh proposal was sent amid rising tensions between the Kejriwal government and Saxena over several issues.
In the proposal moved this time, Sisodia noted that the government had examined the proposal from all aspects, including cost-benefit analysis, and found it essential to improve the quality of education.
The proposal said, “If the chief minister and education minister have decided to send their teachers abroad, then how can L-G scuttle it by repeatedly raising flimsy objections? It is against democracy and the Constitution that an unelected individual is deciding and altering almost every decision of a democratically elected government.
“Elite class of our country suffers from a feudal mindset; they want to send their children abroad but strongly object and seek cost-benefit analysis even when teachers of poor children are to be sent abroad. L-G’s remarks are extremely unfortunate; such a regressive feudal mindset should have no place in 21st century India,” it added.
The proposal noted that, according to the Supreme Court, the L-G does not have the power to order a cost-benefit analysis of any decision of the council of ministers.
