https://thewire.in/education/biology-without-darwin-next-physics-without-newton-and-einstein
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has dropped the theory of evolution as propounded by Charles Darwin from the science syllabus for the tenth standard. This has been done as a part of the ‘rationalisation’ exercise taken up during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic to reduce the ‘content load’ on students. The purging of the section o n evolution on the pretext of the pandemic could not have been more ironical – the novel coronavirus that caused the pandemic is indeed a result of the natural selection process that Darwin sought to explain and children ought to learn more about it. The theory of evolution is fundamental to understanding the basis of several sub-branches of modern biology like genetics, immunology and so on.
The school curriculum change has serious implications for scientific research in the country. In recent years, we have witnessed the rise of pseudoscience activities in research institutions and universities in the name of research on ancient knowledge and to provide a scientific basis to myths. Funding agencies like the Department of Science and Technology and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have also been forced to support research on some topics concerning ‘ancient science’ – cow urine, cow dung, spiritual farming, medical astrology etc. With a state agency (NCERT) discarding the theory of evolution, funding agencies may soon have to deal with proposals to study alternatives to the evolution theory and to find a ‘scientific basis’ for ancient ideas. All such trends don’t augur well for the future of Indian science.
24/04/2023