Turkey is to stop teaching Darwin's theory of evolution in high schools, deeming it controversial and difficult to understand, a senior education official said.
The president of the Council of Education and Morality in Turkey, a theologian Alpaslan Durmuş, announced that the chapter entitled "Beginning of Life and Evolution" has totally been eliminated from the standard biology textbooks used in schools.
The president of the Council of Education and Morality under the Turkish Ministry of Education, Alpaslan Durmuş told educators during an Ankara seminar on June 20 that the ministry had presented the draft to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has approved it.
Durmuş, a graduate of the faculty of theology, stated that the new curriculum would include changes in the philosophy and the approaches.
"For example, we tried to switch from the Eurocentric perspective for the subject of history. As to emphasise that scientific knowledge has expanded by the contribution of everyone, we emphasised the contributions of Islamic and Turkish scientists," he added.
"THE TOPIC OF EVOLUTION IS CONTROVERSIAL"
In his public statement about the new curriculum, Durmuş also stated that the subject titled as "Beginning of Life and Evolution" was considered “controversial”. The basic reason of the elimination of the subject, according to Durmuş, is that students in the level of secondary education are not equipped with the necessary background to comprehend such controversial issues.
Accordingly, the "Beginning of Life and Evolution" chapter, which he described as “controversial,” will be removed from biology classes in high schools starting in 2019.
He also underlined that the new curriculum included internal and national values more than before.
The complete curriculum is planned to be publicised at the end of June.
According to the curriculum drafts, jihadism will be taught in the introductory courses on religious knowledge in imam-hatip religious schools. In the 7th grade, jihadism will be discussed together with patriotism and basic rights and freedoms. In the 8th grade, on the other hand, jihadism will be taught as a way of worshipping Allah within the course unit "Serving Allah and Worshipping".
REACTIONARY TRANSFORMATION
The reactionary transformation experienced in the last 14 years in Turkey brings about significant results. 31.2 percent of Turkish students under 15 years old underperformed in mathematics, sciences and reading, according to the PISA test. Turkey scored 420 points on the math test and ranked 49th out of 72 countries. Turkey was also 52nd in science and 50th in reading. According to Turkish Education Association (TED)’s "2016 Education Evaluation Report", the average verbal skill score of university graduates in Turkey is lower than the average score of high school dropouts in Japan.
The government of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) reshaped the education system along Sunni Islamic lines. In 2012, the government introduced a contentious 12-year compulsory education system with four-year phases of primary, middle and high school, known in Turkey as the “4+4+4”, paving the way for religious middle schools. AKP has been converting a large number of schools into imam-hatip religious schools. After the AKP came to power in 2002, the number of students attending imam - hatip schools increased by 90% to almost 1 million children aged between 10 and 18, or 9% of all students. Under a scheme introduced by the government in 2014, about 40,000 pupils have forcibly enrolled in imam -hatip schools. In some districts, religious vocational schools were suddenly the only alternative for parents who could not afford to educate their children privately.
