The Commissioner for Information of Public Interest Rodoljub Sabic hailed the Agreement between Telekom and the Education Ministry ensuring, on the long term, the free use of Internet in all schools in Serbia and called it "an important step in preparing generations of future citizens to get information, communicate and exercise their freedom of access to information in a modern way, including the control of government by the citizens.
In that respect, Rodoljub Sabic also stated the following:
"The Agreement between Telekom and the Education Ministry should be commended as an expression of responsible attitude to the fact that the Internet has become and is becoming the most important medium of the modern era. However, this is also the opportunity to remind ourselves that this fact also involves, apart such a step, a series of other measures to be introduced by the government.
Some of the leading ideas of the transition era - e.g. reforms and transformation of the central government and the state administration, transparency in the activities of government authorities and visibility of their operations, efficiency and professionalism, e-government and democratic control of the government by the public - in contemporary conditions, are practically devoid of any meaning if not accompanied by the proper attitude towards the Internet and the usage thereof.
In that context, I deem that it is necessary to point once again to the fact that many government bodies still don't have any sort of webpage on the Internet, and there are also some who do have webpages, but are not using them so as to provide quality information to the public. Official internet presentations of government authorities should not be propaganda or advertising tools; they should be places where the citizens, namely the public, can find as much objective and documented information as possible. In that regard, a major concern is that in certain cases with a high degree of legitimate public interest, all the relevant information are yet to be published. A typical example for that is the concession for the Horgos-Pozega highway or, again, the almost scandalous situation with the earnings of the managers of certain state and public companies.
Even without an express legal obligation to publish information about their activities, all entities vested in public authority or assets, should try to be proactive - not waiting for someone to request it - and provide the public with as much relevant and up-to-date information about their activities as possible. Furthermore, the publication of the Bulletin about their activities is not merely a moral, but an express legal obligation, entailing an infraction sanction in case of non-compliance. I hereby once again want to reiterate that it is high time that government authorities start to attend to their duties in the correct manner - the manner they themselves are expecting from the citizens when it comes to their respective duties. It is also high time that the Government of Serbia activates in the required scope and capacity the supervision mechanisms which will, among other things, finally ensure the accountability of those who don't observe the Constitution and the legally guaranteed rights and who violate the Law on Free Access to Information."
