|
Solar system changes too fast for Tanzania
2007-04-12 10:36:56
By Lydia Shekighenda
While global scientists and astronomers dropped Pluto from the solar system last year, reducing the number of planets from nine to eight, the authorities in Tanzania are yet to adopt the change and incorporate it into the education system, The Guardian can report.
It has also been reliably learnt that important changes being made by both national and international scientists and organisations are not adopted soon after they are made simply because the respective authorities take too long to act.
The number of planets became a major agenda item at the recent International Astronomical Union (IAU) conference held in the Czech Republic last August, with the classification of Pluto featuring prominently.
Scientists from different parts of the world officially decided to exclude Pluto from the list of planets in the solar system.
With Pluto out of the way, the bodies now officially known to revolve around the sun are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
In the course of Czech Republic discussions, scientists took time to re-define the term `planet` and came up with a new definition that disqualified Pluto.
The IAU website says the scientists classified Pluto as a `dwarf planet` that does not possess the qualities needed to fall under the new definition.
After the changes, governments across the world were expected to make significant changes and adopt the eight planets in their domestic education systems instead of nine.
But that has not been done in Tanzania yet, meaning that children and future experts continue to be wrongly taught that there are nine planets.
Education and Vocational Training deputy minister Ludovic Mwananzila said in an exclusive interview with The Guardian recently that the government is aware of the changes in the solar system line-up ``only that the changes have not been incorporated in the country`s education system``.
``We are still using the same syllabus that recognises nine planets. We have not changed it,`` pointed out, adding that curriculum reviews need time.
Mwananzila explained that the government was once exploring the modalities of overhauling school and college syllabi across the board, ``a process that would surely incorporate the changes in the solar system``.
``Unfortunately, the exercise had been shelved. So, we need more time to review and include the said changes in the syllabi in our education institutions,`` he noted.
Dr Cosmas Sokoni, head of the Geography Department at the University of Dar es Salaam, has meanwhile asked schoolteachers and college tutors to spread the information about the changes to their students ``informally`` as official incorporation of the same by the government is awaited.
``This can be done if teachers are aware of the changes,`` he said in remarks to this paper, explaining that it was difficult to change learning materials and teaching aids abruptly to comply with the changes.
Dr Sokoni recommended that the government think of developing an effective mechanism to speed up the curriculum review process to incorporate the changes in planet numbers and behaviour.
``Many things have changed that necessitate changes in our reading and learning materials,`` he observed, noting that other changes yet to be incorporated in school and college syllabi include increased number of regions in the country and changes in rainfall patterns, particularly in Dar es Salaam.
Pluto was discovered by accident in 1930 and was classified as the ninth planet shortly thereafter, retaining the status for 75 years.
After the discovery, it was quickly determined that Pluto was too small to account for the discrepancies in the orbits of the other planets.
IAU was founded in 1919 with the objective of promoting and safeguarding the science of astronomy in all aspects through international cooperation. It is one of the top bodies administering changes in the solar system.
The union has friendly relations with organisations that include amateur astronomers in their membership. By last September, it had 9,783 registered individual members in 87 countries worldwide.
|
