Iraq's education ministry has quietly dropped a chapter about evolution from its biology textbooks. The ministry has so far given no explanation but the change has brought complaints and ridicule from Iraqis on social media.
Among the complainers, Dr Mohammed Fawzi, who studied genetic engineering, bioinformatics and biotechnology at Bahgdad University, posted this sarcastic comment in Arabic on Facebook:
"We congratulate our people on deleting the chapter on evolution from the sixth grade textbook, because we have no need to evolve. Backwardness is beautiful!"
"Congratulations to us on our stance against the greatest scientific truths. Then come those who say: "Why are our people backward?"
Photographs of the revised textbook's index page have been circulating on the internet. They show it contains chapters on cells, tissue, reproduction, embryology and genetics. [al-bab.com] Read more
