Finland trip for Delhi teachers: Know controversy behind training programme, how Delhi LG is involved

The proposal to send a group of Delhi government teachers to Finland for training was approved on Saturday by the lieutenant governor (LG), VK Saxena, despite his criticism of the state government's "arbitrary selection" of the recipients. 

The Aam Aadmi Party government reacted angrily to the approval, accusing the LG of delaying the proposal and ultimately forcing the cancellation of the programme.

In order to ensure that teachers from all zones could benefit from the training programme, Saxena expanded the number of participants from 52 to 87, according to a statement released by the LG office on Saturday. 

Additionally, he requested that the government see to it that the participants become "Trainers of Trainees" and train the remaining primary in-charges and teachers; replicate the classroom initiatives that the Finnish government has adopted; and submit a report on the program's educational outcomes.

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“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.

While the AAP government reported in January that the LG had rejected the idea, Saxena said that he had just asked for the proposal to be evaluated. Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister, led AAP MLAs in a march to the LG's home during the January assembly session, setting off yet another war of words.

On January 20, the Delhi government then introduced a new proposal to send a group of 52 teachers to Finland for training.

After Manish Sisodia had asked Saxena to approve the file, 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.”

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The LG has once again returned the plan with revisions in flagrant violation of the Constitution and SC directives, more than four months after the material was first sent to him. With his revised proposal, the LG tried to reduce the number of teachers who would be sent abroad for additional training, as well as the number of such programmes in the future, by requiring that the group of instructors who would be transferred abroad serve as teacher trainers for the remaining teachers. 

The government claimed that the LG's actions demonstrate blatant disrespect and disrespect for the advice of SCERT Delhi, the expert organisation that has overseen all teacher training programmes in Delhi for many years.

“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,” Saxena said in a statement.

Under the provisions of the Right to Education Act 2009, SCERT Delhi, an academic authority of the Delhi government, prepared the proposal for this course. It is a department of the Delhi government with a specialisation in academic issues.