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| Edited By: |Source: DNA |Updated: Apr 11, 2015, 05:10 AM IST
Who is Pythagoras?
Barely did the shock of seeing parents scale the walls of an examination centre in Bihar die down that more stunning revelations unfold in the state’s Saharsa district. A television reporter discovers the teacher evaluating math papers in the district school can’t spell Mathematics; neither does the name of the iconic Greek mathematician Pythagoras ring a bell for this Maths teacher. Standards in other subjects, too, are hardly worth emulating. For instance, the English teacher correcting English papers in the school can’t spell Shakespeare correctly. One shudders to imagine the plight of the students. No wonder that each national educational survey presents a picture more dismal than the other of the poor reading and learning standards of primary school students. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has earned kudos for turning the law and order situation around. But alas — educational standards — declining on Lalu Prasad’s watch — are still continuing to plummet in the state.
Mind your language
Much too often for comfort, our politicians speak a language easily qualifying as vulgar. The former army chief and present minister of state for external affairs VK Singh’s latest remark about journalists is one more in this genre of politician-speak. Earlier this week, Singh used the word “presstitute” — not the first time politicians have flung the word — at journalists. Singh tweeted: “Indian Express proves that P Word fits them like a glove.” Not surprisingly, journalists hit back — some even recalling past instances when none other than the present Prime Minister, while campaigning in the last Lok Sabha elections, accused media of “buying and selling news”. Why then blame Singh who is merely following in the footsteps of the commander-in-chief? Interestingly, few among the outraged critics have drawn attention to one core question: why use “presstitute” as an abuse when women activists have been arguing that prostitutes should be considered as legitimate workers like in any other industry. The long-standing demand for legalising prostitution as an industry and the debate around it are well known. But then, our politicians are blissfully oblivious of any consequential debate, particularly those interrogating patriarchal mindsets.
Chasing elusive particles
Scientific instruments, especially the gargantuan kind like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), need to be put away for a while for repairs and maintenance. After the detection of the much hyped Higgs boson in 2012, the 27-km long underground tunnel will be where protons and ions are made to clash with each other at double the speed than last time. Scientists hope to detect more Higgs’ bosons to understand its structure through the accelerated collisions of protons and ions. In 2012 all that they had managed to detect was a ‘trace’ of the magic, elusive particle, also miscalled God particle. Higgs boson is not the ultimate building block. Physicists do not rule out that there could be other sub-atomic particles tucked away in the depths of matter which could make their presence felt when the known particles of energy are made to move at hyper-speeds.
