Mumbai: It has come to light that the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune, in an examination asked what was wrong with Union minister Dr Satyapal Singh’s argument criticising Charles Darwin’s theory, with the dean of the institute saying that the question was “aimed at testing logical thinking of the students”.
The question was that the Minister of State for Human Resource Development in India recently claimed that the Darwinian theory of evolution is wrong because “nobody, including our ancestors, in writing or orally, have said that they saw an ape turning into a man.” According to Sanjeev Galande, dean of research and development, IISER, the question was why the quoted argument cannot be correct and it was about the logic and not about the statement.
Mr Galande said, “We at IISER, emphasise on the pedagogical way of teaching and question papers are not summary-based.
The students are supposed to think and provide logical reasoning and the question, which was posed during the exam, was quite straightforward and was aimed at testing the logical thinking of the students.
It is not that we are opening a debate (over the statement made by the minister) but it is a theoretical exercise to make students put forward logical arguments and how they can answer in a different way.”
After claiming last month that Darwin’s theory of evolution was “scientifically wrong” and that it should not be part of the curriculum of schools and colleges, Dr Singh had drawn flak from the scientific community but he stood by his stance.
IISER on February 22 posed a question to undergraduate students of evolution during their mid-semester examination as to what was wrong with the minister’s arguments.
