Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

started

metrication Metrication or metrification is the act or process of converting to the metric system of measurement. All over the world, countries have transitioned from local and traditional units of measurement to the metric system. This process began in F ...

in the 1970s. However, it was not completed until the 2000s. Since the 1970s, metric units were introduced into the curriculum of the primary and secondary school systems. The Common Entrance and CXC examinations syllabus use metric units. The Ministry of Education also supports a policy of procuring metric-only textbooks for use in the school system. The informal sector involving vocational, adult literacy and retraining facilities were also being transformed. Large producers of staple foods such as flour, rice, salt, sugar, chicken and other meats, supply products in metric units. A main objective of the Bureau of Standards, a targeted area of work of its Metrication Department, is to have outlets supplying everyday breakbulk items trade in metric units. While not yet a majority, large and medium-sized wholesale and retail outlets, such as supermarkets and fabric stores, have converted islandwide, particularly in the capital

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

and adjoining urban centres. On 10 June 2015, the Jamaican government passed the Road Traffic Bill 2014, which formally repealed and replaced the Road Traffic Act and Regulations 1938. The act included updates to Jamaica's traffic laws along with the use of the

metric system The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the Decimal, decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in French Revolution, France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the d ...

within regulatory descriptions. On 18 September 2015, the Jamaican government amended the Weights and Measure Act to include considerable fines to business owners who do not use the metric system.

References

Science and technology in Jamaica

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See also

References