- Deputy CM replies to hon’ble LG’s letter on the issue of teachers recruitment
· Shri Manish Sisodia also met the hon’ble LG on this issue on Friday
· Deputy CM has pointed out he was kept in the dark on teachers recruitment process
· Shri Sisodia says hon’ble LG is the guardian and it is sad that ministers are not told about services matters related decisions even of their departments
· Officers told Deputy CM they were under instructions not to show any Service matter related file to ministers
Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister, Shri Manish Sisodia has replied to the letter of the hon’ble Lieutenant Governor of Delhi on the issue of recruitment process for appointment of teachers in Delhi government schools by the DSSSB.
Shri Sisodia has written that Education is the first priority of the Elected Government and it is working day-and-night to improve the government schools of Delhi.
“The Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor is a guardian for all of us who are in public office and it is very saddening that when the Hon’ble LG takes decisions regarding teachers recruitment – that deeply affect government schools – and does not even call us for a discussion,” the Deputy Chief Minister wrote.
“Is it illegitimate of us to expect that he will at least consult us on issues related to public good? While the Hon’ble LG is the final authority on service matters, it would be in the interest of the citizens of Delhi, if he was to at least call the Chief Minister and the Minister-in-Charge for a discussion on issues that affect the people of this city,” Shri Sisodia further stated.
The Deputy CM wrote that as the Minister-in-Charge, he too is deeply concerned at the delays in ensuring regular teachers in Delhi government schools. As the hon’ble LG has rightly said, it has been more than six weeks since the recruitment process was put on hold.
Shri Sisodia has elaborated on the reasons for delay in the recruitment of teachers, and pointed out that though the hon’ble LG has stated that he put the recruitment process on hold due to the Deputy CM’s letter, but “I was never informed by his office that the recruitment process has been put on hold or that he had asked for a proposal to consider the policy for weightage for Guest Teachers.”
The Deputy CM has stated that he got to know about the process being put on hold from a newspaper advertisement of DSSSB. “I got to know about a policy being considered for Guest Teachers weeks later, when I received the file from the Law Department. If I had been informed of either of these two developments by the office of the Hon’ble LG,, I would have personally supervised and expedited this process,”.
The Deputy CM stated that when he received the file from the Law Department, he saw that an erroneous opinion on the issue had been tendered on the basis of High Court judgments either overturned by the Supreme Court or judgments cited had been later stayed by higher courts.
The Deputy CM has informed the hon’ble LG that in these circumstances he had no other choice than to return the file, since as an elected representative it is his responsibility to ensure that correct policies are formulated for citizens of Delhi.
Shri Sisodia has further stated that he has been told by officers that they have clear instructions from the hon’ble LG’s office that they are not to follow any instructions from the Minister-in-Charge relating to any service matter of their Department.
“Maybe this is the reason why they did not start formulating a policy, and there is such a delay,” the Deputy CM wrote.
The Deputy CM has stated that Guest Teachers are an important foundation stone for the success of school education, and if the process of teachers recruitment is initiated without giving the Guest Teachers a path to regularisation, the process of improvement of government schools will come to a grinding halt.
“We have invested a lot of money and effort in their training and capacity building over the last two-and-a-half years. If the Guest Teachers who are currently teaching in our schools were to be replaced with completely fresh teachers, we would suffer quite a setback to our education reform process, and would need to re-start the process from scratch,” Mr Sisodia stated.
The Deputy CM has noted that if the services of these guest teachers are not regularised, then Delhi will lose the benefits of their experience.