Mass Communication key measure to promote metric system

Mar 25, 2018 News

The Guyana National Bureau of Standards [GNBS] in its campaign to increase the use of the metric system has recently turned its attention to media houses.
In this regard, GNBS by way of a letter informed media houses that the International System of Units [Metric] should be used while sensitizing the public about the usage of this system.
This tactic the GNBS sees as useful since media houses are one of the most influential information providers to the public.
“Media houses and advertising agencies are very influential in changing the behaviours of citizens and there must be renewed and dedicated efforts to use the SI [Metric] system of measurements in mass communication. The GNBS stands ready to provide the necessary information and training in this regard,” said the GNBS.
The metric system was January 1, 2002 instituted as the legal system of measurement. As a result only metric units such as grams and kilograms [for solid] and litres and millilitres [for liquid] and centimetres and metres [for length] should be used for determining and expressing measurement quantities.
According to the GNBS, it has observed that some media houses and advertising agencies are making the effort to use the metric system in their media reporting and advertising. As such the GNBS “congratulates these agencies for being leaders in the promotion and use of the SI [Metric] Units in Guyana.”
“Notwithstanding this, still there are other mass information providers which have not yet embraced the use of the metric units. If your agency is among this group, all efforts must be made to discourage and discontinue the use of the imperial system of measurement,” said the GNBS in a statement.
Over the years the GNBS has been working to make vendors and shopkeepers aware of the metric system and has been monitoring them to make sure the right metric systems were being used.
“Now it is up to mass media agencies to play their part in this integration,” GNBS has noted.
The Metric System which is used today by many countries across the globe is used in science, industry, and medicine. In addition to this it is said to be very easy and convenient to use.
Guyana previously used the imperial system but as the advancement of the modern world increased it was instituted in the legal system of Guyana in 2002. The reason for this was because it’s easy to comprehend decimal nature.
The GNBS has been raising awareness in light of its observation that there is an increase in the issues relating to people converting to metric systems.

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