Theory of Evolution to Be Banned Across Schools in Turkey Because It Is 'Controversial'
The Education Ministry in Turkey has proposed to remove Darwin's theory of evolution from the country's national curriculum, a move which their president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has approved.
Alpaslan Durmus, head of the Education Ministry, announced at an Ankara seminar on June 20 that Darwin's evolution theory has been taken out of their recent draft of Turkey's national school curriculum, the Hurriyet Daily News reported.
The new national curriculum, which was already approved by President Erdoğan, will be released to the public after the Eid al-Fitr holiday. The main reason for taking out the "Origin of Life and Evolution" from the curriculum is because it is thought by the officials to be "controversial."
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Implementation of this ban will begin in high school classes in 2019, while it will already be enforced this September among ninth graders, The New York Times reported.
Durmus explained, "We have excluded controversial subjects for students at an age unable yet to understand the issues' scientific background. As the students at ninth grade are not endowed with antecedents to discuss the 'Origin of Life and Evolution' section in biology classes, this section will be delayed until undergraduate study."
Many academics from top universities in Turkey are moving against the new curriculum, saying that even students in elementary should already be provided with "an evolutionary point of view" that will help them in their future subjects in science and technology.
Critics and analysts of President Erdoğan have noticed that over the past five years, his government has increased the references to Islam in the school curriculum, while decreasing the lectures involving Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of Turkey. The number of religious schools appeared to have increased in the country as well.
Author of "Angry Nation," Kerem Oktem, said that Turkey might already be transitioning into a "post-secular context."
However, not everyone in Turkey believes that their president is turning the country into a less-secular state.
