NEW DELHI: Lieutenant governor V K Saxena approved the training tour of Finland by primary teachers of state-run schools on Saturday. However, the conditions attached to the visit intensified the faceoff between him and the state government.The LG said that he was agreeing “in principle” to the proposal “in the interest of facilitating an executive decision – flawed that it may be, rather than joining issues to enable anarchic disruption”.In the file noting on the matter, the LG said the 52 teachers in charge of primary sections had been “arbitrarily selected” and asked the government to rather send 87 others – three each from 29 administrative zones – to ensure equal opportunity and representation.Saxena added that a comprehensive report on the learning outcomes from the training should be submitted by each participant teacher within 15 days of the conclusion of the training programme. The LG further said that the training programme should be formulated in a manner that the attendees became trainers and imparted similar coaching to others to ensure no student was deprived of the benefits.”The classroom projects adopted by Finland in its educational institutions may be replicated for adopting the best practices and a virtual tour of these projects may be conducted as a regular exercise,” Saxena said.The LG’s approval came a fortnight after former deputy CM Manish Sisodia, who also held charge of the education department, asked Saxena to return the file that he had been “sitting” over for over a month. While clearing the trip, the LG, however, pointed out that the state government had “failed” to bring on record the “impact assessment of the foreign training programmes conducted in the past”.”… Despite myself having duly and rightfully enquired about impact assessment on the learning outcomes of foreign training programmes conducted in the past and the desirability of examining and identifying similarly placed training programmes in the institutes of excellence within the country, no comments have been offered by the department/ hon’ble minister thereto,” the file noting said.The note also said that though the deputy CM had said such analysis had been done and all aspects examined, no details were brought on record in the files. TOI has accessed the LG’s comments on the government’s proposal.The state government and the LG have wrangled over the programme since December. CM Arvind Kejriwal, Sisodia and AAP MLAs had even walked from Delhi Assembly to the LG’s secretariat to persuade Saxena to relent. Sources in the LG’s office, however, alleged a “smear political campaign” by the AAP government, accusing Saxena of “rejecting” the proposal when it was only pending due to the “reluctance” of the government to provide the impact assessment of past foreign training programmes.The LG also advised the government to adopt a transparent process on the selection of the training institute. The noting said, “There is nothing on record to show what has been the selection procedure to identify the Institute for organising the proposed training programmes.”Referring to Sisodia’s note on returning the file, the LG expressed unhappiness at the “frivolously and needlessly belligerent tone and tenor”, which he alleged was “full of baseless, false and misleading statements” that exhibited “immaturity and a lack of administrative prudence” and didn’t “befit and behove the dignity of the post of a minister”.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/teachers-finland-trip-finally-gets-delhi-lg-vk-saxena-nod/articleshow/98420129.cms
