Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government removed the chapter about evolution from the curriculum prepared for next year. This decision is criticized by the Association of University Councils.
The Association of University Councils (ÜKD) made a press statement about the removal of evolution chapter from the curriculum of schools in Turkey. The Association of University Councils organizes Evolution Symposium in every two years, 6th of which will be realized this year.
The press statement done by "Evolution Continues" Working Group of ÜKD is as followAs Turkey is transformed into a religious state in the hands of Justice and Development Party (AKP), interventions to the educational system also continue. The educational system is now taken out of the field of "science", to the field of "Islamic knowledge". The process of reformation of education in accordance with religious references reached to each aspect of the system; the responsibility of providing a qualified, scientific educational system with educational notions is now abandoned.
The system of 4+4+4 (years spend in successive stages of education) was an initial step for transforming schools to religious high schools; now a comprehensive intervention is carried for this aim, affecting the teacher training, affecting the schools individually, and even including student dormitories. Last year, it was claimed that The Ministry of National Education started to review all curriculum and control its "accordance to religion and culture", with the discourse that "classification of knowledge as scientific and non-scientific is against the oneness".
AKP is decisive in not allowing any existence of scientific and secular education, even in its current backward level. In the new curriculum, the chapter titled "Origin of Life and Evolution" is removed. What will replace this chapter is questionable. It is obvious that Directorate of National Education does not even stand the word "evolution". Knowledge without the material foundations, ignoring the history of the universe, the earth we live on, life and humanity, aims to train generations not able to think critically and to demand justice.
We announce that we will not allow this darkness! We will continue to defend science, enlightenment, and secularism. The humanity caught the light once; this light can sometimes waver, but you cannot extinguish it! You cannot reverse the history.
We invite all our people to defend science against the darkness of AKP; to augment the fire of enlightenment.
"A SERIOUS MISTAKE"
Another association of academicians, Association of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology also made a public statement and underlined that the current state of education of evolution was already inadequate. It is stressed in the statement that understanding evolutionary biology is essential for understanding the functioning of the animate system and this subject is included comprehensively in each level of education in developed countries. The association warned that this would be a serious mistake.
