Scientific community demands restoration of Darwin’s theory in textbooks

Mumbai: The decision of the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to remove the theory of biological evolution from Class 10 CBSE has been met with consternation by several scientists, science teachers and educators. They believe that the understanding of the process of evolution is crucial for building a scientific temper, and that depriving students of this exposure is making a mockery of education.

The Breakthrough Science Society, a nationwide voluntary organisation committed to the cause of science, culture and a scientific outlook, has issued an open letter titled ‘An Appeal Against Exclusion of Evolution from Curriculum’, which demands the restoration of the theory of Darwinian evolution in secondary education. The letter has been signed by over 1,800 scientists, science teachers, and educators, including scientists from noted institutions such as the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), and the IITs.

The scientific community feels that students will be seriously handicapped in their thought process if deprived of exposure to this fundamental discovery of science. Evolutionary biology is not only important to any sub-field of biology, but it is also key to understanding the world around us. The principles of natural selection help us understand how pandemics progress, why certain species go extinct, and address critical issues such as medicine and drug discovery, epidemiology, ecology and environment, psychology, and human evolution.

According to a document by NCERT on the list of rationalised content in textbooks for Class 10, Chapter 9, titled ‘Heredity and Evolution’, has been replaced with ‘Heredity’. The list of dropped topics in this chapter includes Charles Robert Darwin, Origin of life on Earth, Molecular Phylogeny, Evolution, Evolution and Classification, Tracing Evolutionary Relationships, Evolution by Stages, and Human Evolution. Scientists argue that these changes, which were first introduced as a temporary measure during the pandemic, are being continued even though schooling has gone back to offline mode.