Delhi govt tells RTI activist that his campaign to include RTI Act in school syllabus duly noted

Times of India‎: Dehradun: Tuesday, June 28, 2016.

After his idea of including the Right to Information Act (RTI) in the school curriculum found little local support, RTI activist Ajay Kumar, from Dudhali village, wrote to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, outlining the need to teach about the act to schoolchildren. Kumar's efforts bore fruit when he received a letter from Kejriwal last week, informing him that the matter was being taken up with NCERT.

Talking to TOI, Kumar said, "I firmly believe that having the RTI Act in school textbooks will help make an entire generation aware of the power of RTI and also the procedure involved. The children of today will be the adults of tomorrow who are better informed and seek transparency."

Kumar, who has been working towards creating RTI awareness since 2008, also tried to persuade people in his village and Dehradun to join his campaign in making RTI Act a part of school syllabus, but most locals were not very keen on the idea. Not one to get dissuaded easily, Kumar then wrote to the state government earlier this year. While the government was quick to appreciate his efforts and reply that it would consider the matter, no concrete promises were made.

In April this year, Kumar wrote to RTI activist-turned-politician Kejriwal about the importance of including the RTI Act in the school syllabus. "I knew that Arvind Kejriwal would understand the importance of the RTI in the school curriculum," said Kumar. This set the ball rolling for a series of letters between the two parties which ultimately led to the matter being taken up with NCERT.

"I got the official communication last week stating that the Delhi education department has written to NCERT to include the RTI ACT in the school syllabus."

Kumar said he realized the importance of RTI in 2008 when through an RTI query he discovered that Rs 54 lakh had been earmarked by the civic department to build a road but no work had been initiated on the project. "After my RTI reply became public, the work started. That is when I realized the power of RTI," said Kumar.

Earlier this month, Kumar had written to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to get his village digitally connected and has received a copy of instructions that his village, Dudhali, be provided internet facilities under the PM's Digital India initiative which aims to connect rural areas with high-speed internet networks.