Start thinking metric now

TTUTA

IN 1973 the now defunct Metrication Board of TT was tasked with the introduction of the metric system in this country. Many would recall the advertising tag line, “Start thinking metric now,” wherein people were being encouraged to adopt the new system of measurements in their everyday life. Rather than converting, people were encouraged to drop the old and adopt the new system owing to its ease of use.

In 1976, a Cabinet-appointed committee tried to introduce the necessary legislation to give effect to the introduction of this modern and internationally accepted scientific system of measurement in TT. That bill was however only read in Parliament in 1984 for the first time but subsequently allowed to lapse.

Then in 2004 the Metrology Bill – a bill to re-enact the and revise the laws with respect to weights and measures and to give effect to the official use of the International System of Units (SI) – was passed in the Parliament.

This bill replaced the Weights and Measures Ordinance of 1939 which was based on the Weights and Measures Act of 1878 of the UK and which applied primarily to what was known as the Imperial System of Measurement. Back then it was felt the country was lagging behind the rest of the world regarding the adoption of a more modern and efficient system of measurement.

This 2004 bill was thus designed to make SI the primary system of measurement of TT in keeping with the internationally accepted form of what was commonly referred to as the metric system, correcting a deficiency of the 1939 ordinance. By this time, school syllabi had been adjusted to ensure that all children at all levels were being taught to use the SI in all facets of life.

The 2004 bill also stipulated that the Bureau of Standards will act under the legislation as the national standards body as well as the national quality certifying body; ensuring that SI was in accurate use throughout the country in all spheres of life. Textbooks were also reflecting SI in exclusive usage and children were expected to graduate from school into a world where Imperial measures were outmoded in favour of a scientifically superior system.

The ensuing years have however proven otherwise. Children are being forced to informally use imperial measures, inconsistent with what they learnt in school. State agencies such as the Ministry of Health are advertising covid19 guidelines such as keeping six feet apart despite the fact that the 2004 bill clearly mandated that the official measurement system for TT is SI.

Meteorologists are still speaking of wave heights in feet and market vendors still are allowed to exclusively engage in retail trade using pounds and ounces. What is even more disconcerting is that the authorities have all but given up on ensuring that all commerce is conducted using the official system of measurements.

Rather than push to the full conversion to SI, the country has been making retrograde steps, yielding to old habits and the American influence. This may seem to many as a trivial issue but from an educator’s perspective it is a real challenge. Teachers are yet again inadvertently forced to wage a cultural battle with all learning content exclusively reflecting SI but real-life situations telling a different story. We are obviously not practising what we are preaching.

This status creates a level of confusion in the minds of children: being forced to engage in conversion between SI units and imperial measures without having been thought to do so, a direct contradiction to the advertising objectives of the 1970s and 1980s to start thinking metric.

Maybe we need to embark on a renewed national education mandate to ensure that the use of SI is reflected in every facet of life, formally and informally. The cultural transformation that began back in the 1970s is yet to be completed.

While it is understandable that cultural mindsets are hard to shift, mainly out of fear, the authorities must continue to pursue the goals of the 2004 bill passed in Parliament, notwithstanding the dogmatic American position on the use of the internationally accepted SI.

The less than conscious retrograde steps we have been making must be immediately arrested in a strong and forceful manner led by the authorities. The law mandates the use of SI.