New Delhi: In the ongoing tussle between the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government and the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi VK Saxena, the Delhi LG said that Kejriwal should have visited him instead of calling him an unruly 'headmaster' in the Assembly and staging a protest against his decision, on the streets. In a letter addressing the Delhi Chief Minister, the LG lashed out at Kejriwal over his 'who is LG' remark, calling the allegations "severally and substantively misleading, untrue and derogatory." The LG also advised him to "cursorily refer to the Constitution of India" for his answer to where did he come from.
Pointing out some grim statistics about attendance in Delhi schools the LG said, "The average attendance in government schools, which was 70.73 percent in 2012-2013, consistently fell year on year, reaching 60.65% in 2019-2020. Despite concerted efforts and a rebound factor, owing to the blanket closure of the schools due to the COVID pandemic between March 2020- June 2022, the numbers went up to only 73.74 percent... attendance in 2009-2010, was clocked at 78.06 percent. This clearly indicates that our government schools are not being able to ensure attendance of students effectively."
The LG also added that enrolment in government schools that stood at 16.1 lahks during 2013-2014, and consistently came down to 15.1 lahks in 2019-2020. Moreover, no new schools have been built during the last eight years in Delhi, despite the Delhi Development Association allotting 13 plots to the Education Department, he added.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday alleged that Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena suffers from a "feudal mindset". He also alleged that the LG does not want good education for poor children in the city. "Not even my teachers checked my homework as the LG scrutinizes my files.", he said.
"The LG is not my headmaster. People have elected me as chief minister," he said. "Who is LG, where has he come from? He is sitting on our heads. Will he decide where we should send our children to study? Our country is lagging because of such people with a feudal mindset," he lashed out. "Nothing is permanent in life. We may be in power at the Centre tomorrow, with our LG. Our government will not harass people," Kejriwal said at the Assembly.
Kejriwal was aggrieved over the LG twice objecting to the proposal of his government of sending teachers to Finland. Saxena argued that teachers can be trained in India instead.
