Kids use RTI to spur govt

Question lack of facilities, get bus service & pose queries on syllabus Hyderabad:  Barely 10 years old, some students of Vadi go...

Question lack of facilities, get bus service & pose queries on syllabus

Hyderabad: Barely 10 years old, some students of Vadi government primary school in Velpur mandal of Nizamabad district have set a record of sorts by making the best use of Right to Information Act as an effective tool to find solutions to the problems plaguing the village as well as their school. The students filed  RTI applications on four occasions and were successful in getting what they wanted.

Class V student B Manoj (9) was one among the 15 students of this school who did not get annual scholarship of Rs 1000 (for 2011-12) given by the Labour Department to children of Beedi workers. While parents and students were disheartened, this little crusader heard about the Right to Information Act (RTI) and sought elders help to question the government on the injustice meted out to the children like him.  

Manoj filed an application under the RTI with the Labour Department, seeking reasons for not releasing scholarship and asking how much them they would take to disburse the money. Moved by the kid’s action, the Labour Department officials immediately responded and redressed his grievance. Not only that, they even promptly dashed off a letter to the student, informing him of their response. 

Having tasted the power of the RTI, Manoj again made use of the Act to seek information, this time, from the Archaeology Department for information on the forgotten history of Nizamabad district. He was soon provided with the details he had sought.

Taking cue from their friend, a student Kavitha also used the RTI Act to ensure public transportation to her village. She gave a representation to RTC authorities requesting them for a bus service from Armoor to Vadi to ferry school students. As there was no reply, she filed an application under the RTI. The state-owned transport corporation, which initially stated that the route concerned was not profitable, later swung into action and held discussions with gram sabha. 

It finally decided to allot a special bus service. This move helped dozens of students from neighbouring villages to come to the school. Ten-year-old Mamata from the same school got several doubts about the tiger population in the state when a lesson on this subject was being taught. She posed some questions but the teachers could not give her satisfactory reply. Following this, she filed an application under RTI with the Forest Department and 25 days later, the girl was provided with tiger population.

When The Hans India spoke to Nizamabad DEO Srinivasa Chary and Velpur MEO M Srinivas about this, they said the school authorities were laying emphasis on the RTI Act. According to school authorities, a teacher by name Naresh has been the guiding force behind all the four students. He has thorough understanding of the Act as he is also an RTI activist earlier, they said. 

By:Mahesh Avadhutha