An “integral part of the science syllabus” in Class 10 NCERT books, the society has called for the restoration of Charles Darwin’s evolution theory in secondary education. Appealing against the exclusion of evolution in books, the society has also written an open letter, signed by more than 1,800 scientists, science teachers, educators, and concerned citizens.
In June last year the NCERT rationalised textbooks of Classes 6 to 12 to reduce the content load of students, The new textbooks are being taught in schools in the current academic year.
Condemning NCERT’s decision, the collective wrote that learning “evolutionary biology is important not just to any subfield of biology, but is also key to understanding the world around us”. In a statement released on Thursday, the collective also stressed on the importance of understanding evolution to build “scientific temper and rational worldview”.
