The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has trimmed the chapter on Evolution and periodic classification of elements from Class 10th standard in a process of rationalising the textbooks.
According to the various reports the chapters that have been removed include Charles Darwin on evolution, origin of life on Earth, and human evolution and heredity.
The NCERT has also made the deletion of the periodic classification of elements in 10th standard textbook. However class 11 chapter on the topic remains part of the syllabus.
According to the NCERT, the content in these textbooks was rationalised for 2022-23. The same textbooks are continued for 2023-24.
UK based biologist & writer, Richard Dawkins shared a News article on the Micro blogging site, Twitter.
He writes, "Modi’s BJP is a tragic affront to India’s secular beginnings. Hinduism is at least as ridiculous as Islam. Between them, these two idiotic religions have betrayed the ideals of Nehru and Gandhi."
Reacting to his tweet, a twitter user responded, "It's not been removed, it's been moved to a different grade. Evolution is a chapter in class 12, periodic table in class 11. It's not a religious thing. (You may be right in that it deserves to be taught earlier, but it's not like they don't believe it should be taught at all)."
Evolution is in class 12th textbooks. |
Periodic table in class 11th textbooks | NCERT
Class 10th textbook of NCERT has Heredity chapter. | user
The news article from The Nature has mentioned reactions from the experts after this rationalization process from the NCERT. The report quotes Mythili Ramchand, a science-teacher trainer at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, who says, “everything related to water, air pollution, resource management has been removed. "I don’t see how conservation of water, and air pollution, is not relevant for us. It’s all the more so currently."
"Anybody who’s trying to teach biology without dealing with evolution is not teaching biology as we currently understand it," says Jonathan Osborne, a science-education researcher at Stanford University in California.
The report also states, More than 4,500 scientists, teachers and science communicators have signed an appeal organized by Breakthrough Science Society, a campaign group based in Kolkata, India, to reinstate the axed content on evolution.
A few days back NCERT has announced to drop the objectionable content against Sikhs from the political science textbook for Class 12 of the CBSE.
The portions have been removed in view of a representation from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and a recommendation of the expert group set up by the NCERT.
