Curricula with RTI lessons from next year likely
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Dhaka: August 10, 2010: Students at secondary and higher secondary level will get curriculums with lessons of the Right to Information (RTI) Act from next year, Muhammad Zamir, Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) said on Monday.
"I have talked to the education minister about incorporation of RTI lessons in school curriculums and hopefully it will come into effect by the end of the next year," he said at a national sharing event on 'RTI Training Modules' at Spectra Convention Centre here.
Information Commission Bangladesh has prepared the RTI training manual for the grassroot people aimed at increasing transparency and accountability up to UP level, the lowest tier of the local government.
Delegate of delegation of Intercooperation (Switzerland)Felix Bachmann chaired the function while ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh Dr Urs Herren and director of Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Janet Durno, Bangladesh spoke as special guests.
Deputy delegate of Intercooperation ATM Azmul Huda presented the keynote paper on the training module highlighting supply and demand sides on access to information.
Muhammad Zamir said terminology of RTI should be easy and simple so that local people can understand its necessity.
Giving an overview of RTI background, the former diplomat said disclosure policy and preservations of documents were first introduced in 1766 in Sweden and later in the USA in 1966 and finally in India in 2005.
He suggested synchronizing all modules being prepared both at the government and non- government level and keeping those on web site for ensuring maximum people's access to information.
The CIC called upon the mobile phone operators to come forward to introduce Short Messaging Service (SMS) free of cost so that their 60 million subscribers could understand the necessity of RTI.
He went on saying that Bangladesh's media coverage on RTI is not well compared to its neighboring India.
Dr Urs Herren said access to information at rural areas has become indispensable for strengthening local government bodies and favoured expansion of community radio and other local media to that end.
Janet Durno described the RTI as the key element to ensure transparency and accountability in all level of the administration and said media could play an important role in promoting the RTI. The 33-page module contained importance of access to information, benefits of citizens for access to information,legal base of RTI and methods and ways to get information, said ATM Azmul Huda.
The main objective of the RTI Act, which was enacted for the first time in the country last year, is to ensure people's access to quality information.
Source: The New Nation
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