NEW DELHI: Delhi’s education department, which was reportedly in a mess for the past year due to the absence of a regular directorate of education (DoE), has finally got one.
Veditha Reddy, a 2015 batch IAS officer, has been appointed as Delhi’s new director of education.
The announcement comes as part of a major bureaucratic reshuffle by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena on Thursday night, announcing transfers and postings of over 30 Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officers, filling vacancies in health and education departments, among others.
Veditha, who is currently out of the country, said she will be joining the department next week.
Veditha is the third female director of education in the past ten years. Soumya Gupta and Padmini Singla had headed the department.
Besides Veditha, two other female officers—2016-batch Nazuk Kumar and 2020-batch Shreya Singhal—will join the education department as additional directors.
Since last November, the directorate of education has been without a full-time director, and only the officiating officers have been on duty. The previous regular director was Himashu Gupta, who was appointed as Secretary of CBSE in November 2023.
Meanwhile, RN Sharma, who was holding an additional charge of education director besides serving as labour commissioner, has been transferred to Jammu and Kashmir.
The delay in the postings and transfers was attributed to various factors, including former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s six-month imprisonment.
Owing to the absence of the director of education, several budgets were on hold, including those for salary, medical, LTC, school management committee, and even stationary, according to the teachers.
Several teachers, seeking anonymity, told this newspaper that several children had been complaining about not receiving the payment for school uniforms.
Last November, the education department promised the teachers a grant of Rs 200 as a monthly recharge amount for the tablets. They have not received any recharge amount, nor have they received the purchasing cost of the tablet, as was also promised.
