India's Minister of State for Education Calls the Removal of Darwin's Theory from NCERT Textbook "Misleading Propaganda"

The NCERT had previously said that the Class 10 science textbook's chapter on "Heredity and Evolution" would be replaced with "Heredity" to rationalize the curriculum.

on May 01, 2023

India's Minister of State for Education Calls the Removal of Darwin's Theory

Subhas Sarkar, the minister of state (MoS) for education, said on Saturday that there was "misleading propaganda" over the removal of Darwin's Theory from the science textbook for Class 10 published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

Subhas Sarkar's response followed a recent open letter from more than 1,800 scientists, scientific instructors, and educators expressing disapproval over removing the "Theory of Biological Evolution" chapter from the NCERT textbook for Class 10.

Subhas Sarkar told a media outlet that "it is misleading propaganda to remove Darwin's Theory from the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Curriculum."

"Covid-19 caused the rationalization of courses, which helped to lighten the homework load on young students. All websites have Darwin's Theory available for children to study. There should not be such misleading advertising because Darwin's Theory is already included in class 12's curriculum, the MoS for Education continued.

The NCERT had previously said that the Class 10 science textbook's chapter on "Heredity and Evolution" would be replaced with "Heredity" to rationalize the curriculum.

Topics like "Evolution," "Acquired and Inherited Traits," "Tracing Evolutionary Relationships," "Fossils," "Evolution by Stages," "Evolution Should Not Be Equated With Progress," and "Human Evolution" were among those left out of the chapter.

More than 1,800 scientists, science teachers, and educators, including researchers from prestigious institutions like the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), and IITs, among others, have recently written an open letter voicing their concerns about the removal of the chapter on "Theory of Biological Evolution" from the NCERT textbook for Class 10.