Darwin's theory not removed from textbooks: Pradhan

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has sought to assuage fears about the 'deletion' of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution from the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks and said 'nothing of this sort has happened'.

Pradhan was speaking at an event at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Maharashtra's Pune city on Tuesday.

"A controversy is going on these days that Darwin's theory of evolution has been removed from science books by the NCERT and the periodic table has been left out, but I would like to state here publicly that nothing of this sort has happened," he said.

After the controversy broke out, Pradhan spoke to the NCERT, which is an autonomous body, and sought details, the minister said.

"According to them, experts had advised that during COVID-19, some repetitive parts could be reduced and later brought back. So the content in Classes 8 and 9 is unchanged. In the book of Class 10, some portion related to the theory of evolution was omitted last year, and it is unchanged in Classes 11 and 12," he said.

There is a view that students who would not study science after Class 10 would miss out on some specific subjects related to Darwin's theory of evolution, which is a valid point, the minister conceded.

"Periodic table is taught in Class 9, and is also being taught in Classes 11 and 12. As per the NCERT, one or two examples (related to the theory of evolution) were omitted. But I would like to assure you that the National Education Policy is being implemented, and as per that policy, new textbooks are being prepared," Pradhan added.