“I had asked the school authorities to give details on how much funding it had received in the last five years and how the money was spent,” said RTI activist Y Yugandhar, also a law graduate. “Instead of giving out the information they started blaming me for interfering with their work. They even claimed that they were shortstaffed and were in no position to depute someone to furnish required information,” he added. Interestingly, the school authorities when questioned, made no bones about admitting that they had no idea about the much-important Act. “We do not know what the RTI Act is. We have not undergone any training related to this Act,” said V Jayashri, principal of the school. She was, however, quick to add that the school had no problem in giving out the information if it was “legal.”
“I told the applicant that we need prior permission from the higher officials and only then we can provide information,” the principal said. Meanwhile, Yugandhar alleged that the school authorities were resorting to blackmailing to avoid giving out information. “The teachers told the parents that they would go on mass leave if they were pressurised to give out details sought through RTI. Predictably, parents are buckling under pressure because exams are approaching and they do not want any disturbance during that time,” the RTI activist said. While this could be a peculiar case of the management trying to conceal the truth about its funding, RTI activists admit that awareness about the Act is indeed poor among some sections of the society.
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