There has always been some disruptive noise in a country like the United States when it comes to the subject of teaching, specifically, Darwin's Theory of Evolution (ToE). Bible-thumpers and their ilk have, armed with an inaccurate understanding of Scientific Method and what the actual ToE means, bandied about a scripture-derived Creationist Theory to explain how the world came to be. I have always been proud of the fact that we have generally had a more factual approach to deciding how we teach Science to school-children here in India. Until a couple of days ago, that is.
On Saturday morning, I had just made a cup of coffee and sat down to read my newspapers. I then came across an article where India's Union Minister of State for HRD, Satyapal Singh, said that ToE was 'scientifically wrong'. Quite involuntarily, I managed to produce a fine spray of coffee that coated the paper. Gawking at my drenched newspaper in disbelief, I read on. No mention was made of exactly what was wrong with the science in ToE. The proclamation was accompanied by some memorable quotes: "Nobody, including our ancestors, in written [sic] or oral [sic], have [sic] said they saw an ape turning into a man" and "Since the [sic] man is [sic] seen on Earth he has always been a man". Much 'sic'ness there, for garnish. The honourable minister went on to say that ToE should be 'changed' in school and college curricula. To what, one might ask? Where is the scientific research supporting any rival claim? No mention of any of that... but change must come. Saffron buddies like Ram Madhav were seen tweeting creationist articles in support. This little incident seems to have made the impossible possible - a meeting of the minds of Christian evangelists and the Saffron far-right.
For context, this quote was made at the "All India Vaidik Sammelan" that was being held in Aurangabad. I assume he might have wanted to bolster the notion that all the knowledge in the world is buried in the Vedas somewhere. He went on to establish his credentials to reporters, saying that he was a man of science and holds a PhD in Chemistry. If this is the kind of incredible statement that a PhD-holder in Chemistry can spout, I worry about the kind of intellectual activity that goes on in our universities. This gentleman has also been an IPS officer in the past and a former Mumbai Police Commissioner, and has been in the news for other gems like: “Koi ladki jeans pehenkar ke shaadi ke bedi pe jayega to kitne ladke usse shaadi karna chahenge? (If a girl wears jeans and goes to her wedding, how many boys will want to marry her?)”.
If we abandon Scientific Method, and choose to teach children fairy tales about the world, masquerading them as fact, whose version do we go with? The Christian story about the world being made in 7 days, and Adam and Eve, or the Rigvedic notion of the Hiranyagarbha, or some Pastafarian notion of an alcohol-induced creation? More importantly, are there no consequences to an HRD minister (whose ministry is responsible for education) making a careless statement on school curricula? I read today that some scientists are organising a signature campaign to have the HRD ministry issue a clarification on this. One can probably expect that the generic 'views expressed were personal and do not reflect policy' excuse will be provided.
This is why religion needs to be kept out of education. Once the flood-gates are opened, there's no saying how factual explanations of what we know will be attacked by religious fundamentalists. Evolution has been a favourite topic of dispute, given that it directly attacks the notion that a divine entity was responsible for making the world the way it is, or that something else magically happened. Our understanding of History has also been under attack, as a scientific approach to the study of historical texts, epigraphy, and archeological evidence is dismissed, favouring instead majoritarian lore. In schools, the fundamentalists in India oppose any theory of the Harappan civilization being anything other than a Vedic culture, for example. Even language is diverging through political influence as Hindi and Urdu artificially drift further apart, fuelled by a religion-driven separation of vocabularies. I shudder to think what the fundamentalists will get their greedy paws on next.
India can scarcely afford to tinker with the Scientific Method in education. We have a large population of young people that need to be given the best tools to succeed in the world. A Scientific temperament is one of the most critical tools to that end. Of course, that would mean that they will be better able to critically sift through the nonsense that many of our politicians spout and call out the bullshit. And politicians can't have that, can they?
No comments:
Post a Comment