Jun 26 2017 : The Times of India (Chennai)
Turkey drops evolution from curriculum, secularists see red
Ankara:
REUTERS
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Turkey will stop teaching Darwin's theory of evolution in high schools, deeming it controversial and difficult to understand, a senior education official said on Sunday, a move likely to alarm secular Turks. Critics said President Tayyip Erdogan and the Islamist-rooted AK Party were undermining modern Turkey's secular foundations by pushing a conservative agenda, including tighter regulation of alcohol and other restrictions.Alparslan Durmus, head of the national education board, said that a chapter entitled “Beginning of Life and Evolution“ would be deleted from the biology textbooks in schools and the material would be available only to university students from age 18 or 19.
“If our students don't have the background to comprehend the premises and hypotheses, or if they don't have the knowledge and scientific framework, they will not be able to understand some controversial issues, so we have left out some of them,“ he said.
Darwin's theory of evolution is rejected by both Christian and Muslim creationists, who believe God created the world, making the universe and all living things in six days.
Deputy PM Numan Kurtulmus had said Darwin's theory was “old and rotten“ and need not be taught in schools.
“If our students don't have the background to comprehend the premises and hypotheses, or if they don't have the knowledge and scientific framework, they will not be able to understand some controversial issues, so we have left out some of them,“ he said.
Darwin's theory of evolution is rejected by both Christian and Muslim creationists, who believe God created the world, making the universe and all living things in six days.
Deputy PM Numan Kurtulmus had said Darwin's theory was “old and rotten“ and need not be taught in schools.
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