India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks — experts are baffled
Dyani Lewis | 31 May 2023 | Nature
National Science Day at St Thomas School in Secunderabad, India, in February. Will future students be able to exhibit the periodic table?Credit: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty
In India, children under 16 returning to school this month at the start of the school year will no longer be taught about evolution, the periodic table of elements or sources of energy.
The news that evolution would be cut from the curriculum for students aged 15–16 was widely reported last month, when thousands of people signed a petition in protest. But official guidance has revealed that a chapter on the periodic table will be cut, too, along with other foundational topics such as sources of energy and environmental sustainability. Younger learners will no longer be taught certain pollution- and climate-related topics, and there are cuts to biology, chemistry, geography, mathematics and physics subjects for older school students.