Who is that genius?

I heard that so far June month has never been so hot in Chennai like 2019. Government issued a heatwave alert and cautioned children and elders to stay indoors from 11 to 4.

Come what may, our educational institutions decided to open jail gates..oops sorry..school gates and made attendance compulsory.

Well, knowing free air movement inside classrooms, the number of students per square meter, the number of windows, doors, and... length multiplied by the width of exit passage – we are assured that children will be safe during any catastrophic natural conditions.

But, few 'anti educationalists' enquired whether it would not be a better decision to postpone reopening or close opened schools for a few more days!

I feel shocked and scared to hear that suggestion. To my comfort and peace of mind, an authority pushed away those 'anti educationalists', stating some 240 days are required to complete syllabus of 1st and above standards.

That is interesting. How did they arrive at 240? Is it fixed, something similar like gravity = 9.8 m/sec square, which we were familiarised by the most simple physics practical lesson – simple pendulum – in which we hold that small metal ball in hand, lift and release so that it swings like old clocks – tic toc, tic toc (to me it reminded a hypnotist’s magic work of entering into your mind by saying, ‘see this..see this’) and we learned gravity as if we were hypnotized. Meaning – ask any student, ‘what’s the objective of knowing the value’, he surely would reply, ‘who knows..but I like it as it is simple’.

Oh, as if I were hypnotized I forgot to ask my primary question. How did you arrive at 240? Is it based on intellectuals calculations (usually this calculation will be challenged by another intellectual and it goes on), or by teaching time required (we must average out thousands of teachers individual teaching ability and their experience because a teacher teaches the same line every year for 20 years may thrust the line quickly into a student’s head unlike a less experienced teacher) or is it based on average learning time required for a student (God, averaging out this number is tougher than understanding or behaving as if understood E=MC square) or is it based on any scientific statistical combinations of hell a number of formulas (like calculating percentage affecting fiscal deficit due to past, present and future inflation, which is always found to be wrong in next year).

I am not an expert in this. But I am really interested to understand how that number of days arrived, which ultimately make us push a child into danger. Are we going to wait till something happens to a child or pray for rain to cool atmosphere? Since we have no alternatives, let us pray every morning until this city cools down;

Also, pray that no child of this land should be overexposed to sun .........and become like that genius who identified 240.

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R.Bharathram

16 June 2019