Turkey’s Ministry of Education has removed references to evolution from its educational calendar following backlash regarding an entry on human development, Birgün newspaper reported on Sunday.
A calendar entry for the month of February featuring the question “Why don’t insects have tails?’’ which noted that human beings “lost their tails after becoming bipedal,’’ was removed from the calendar following negative feedback, Birgün said.
The ministry’s educational calendar is prepared for parents and school-aged children in hardcopy and digital format to provide educational information on an array of subjects, including arts and culture and sciences.
Turkey’s educational system has become increasingly conservative under the rule of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has greatly impacted on the teaching of science: biology classes, which are now limited to two hours per week, have not included teaching the theory of evolution since 2017.
Ahval