Alleged Biologist Richard Dawkins peddles fake news that topics on periodic table were removed from school textbooks in India based on the misleading title of the science journal ‘Nature’.
On May 31, the science journal ‘Nature’ has published an article titled “India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks — experts are baffled”
The article was misleading because it portrayed “rationalization of syllabus” as the complete removal of topics from textbooks.
The Covid-19 pandemic caused unprecedented disruptions in education, prompting the NCERT to carry out a syllabus rationalization exercise from December 2021 to June 2022. Accordingly NCERT has been deleting overlapping and repeating syllabus for different classes of students in order to reduce the work load of students post COVID. Following rationalization, the periodic table topic was moved to class 11 rather than class 9.
“Due to Covid-19, rationalisation of courses was going on, to reduce the burden of studies on the child. If a child wants to study, Darwin’s Theory is available on all websites. In Class 12, there is already Darwin’s Theory in the syllabus so there should not be such false propaganda,” Minister of State (MoS) for Education Subhas Sarkar said.
Instead of reporting that the periodic table has been moved to class 11, the science journal has attempted to conceal this fact by stating that students aged 15-16 (typical of class 10 students) will not be studying the periodic table.
The article written by ‘Nature’ reads, “A chapter on the periodic table of elements has been removed from the syllabus for class-10 students, who are typically 15–16 years old.”
This deceptive article from the science journal ‘Nature’ was later picked up by mainstream news outlets such as NDTV, India Today, Livemint, and many others. Though the articles in these mainstream news outlets stated that the topics had been moved to class 11, the titles were all misleading, giving the impression that the periodic table had been completely removed from Indian textbooks.
Quoting this misleading article from ‘Nature’, alleged Biologist and Writer Richard Dawkins said, “Modi’s BJP is a tragic affront to India’s secular beginnings. Hinduism is at least as ridiculous as Islam. Between them, these two idiotic religions have betrayed the ideals of Nehru and Gandhi.” Several people on social media, however, countered his fake news with facts and questioned his hatred for the Hindu religion, which he blamed for the alleged removal of the periodic table syllabus.
Modi’s BJP is a tragic affront to India’s secular beginnings. Hinduism is at least as ridiculous as Islam. Between them, these two idiotic religions have betrayed the ideals of Nehru and Gandhi.https://t.co/1wIHXKeyGS
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) May 31, 2023
Many on social media lashed out Richard Dawkins for peddling fake news and unwarrantedly abusing a faith.
CBSE has only reshuffled these subjects to different grades – but amusing to see Richard Dawkins falls to the level of Savukku Shankar, and journals like Nature, Lancet's credibility being reduced to the level of The News Minute. https://t.co/SlBmsS6Kbd
— Tamil Labs 2.0 (@labstamil) June 1, 2023
Richard, in your home nation England, 4% Muslims contribute to 18% of jail inmates & 2% Hindus contribute 0.04%. 450 times lesser.
There are 54 Islamic terror Orgs banned in UK. Not a single Hindu one.
In the last decade, UK recorded 16 terror attacks, 13 of them Islamic & not… https://t.co/P3Tww7pohF pic.twitter.com/ZSB7bQNVPK
— Cogito (@cogitoiam) June 1, 2023
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