A lawyer from the Bangladesh Supreme Court has sent a legal notice to the Ministry of Education demanding the removal of Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection from science textbooks for classes 9 and 10.
The lawyer, Sarwar Hossain, argues that Darwin’s evolutionary framework is “contradictory to Islamic belief” and places “unnecessary pressure on young minds.” He has threatened to move the High Court if authorities fail to take action on his notice.
Legal notice issued to remove Darwin's theory of evolution from textbooks.
Earlier, Islamists raised objections against it. pic.twitter.com/NUnl6VxR1R
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“We believe humanity began with Adam and Eve, as mentioned in Islam. Evolutionary theory, which claims humans originated from apes, contradicts this,” Hossain declared, while insisting that Darwin’s work could only be taught “at higher levels for research purposes, not in secondary education.”
Darwin’s theory—first advanced in the 19th century transformed biology with the radical idea that species, including humans, evolved over millions of years through natural selection. The theory has since been reinforced by evidence from genetics, paleontology, and molecular biology, becoming the foundation of modern life sciences.
Scientific educatators argue that the move would erode the critical thinking skills necessary for higher studies in medicine, genetics, and environmental sciences. For many, it reflects a worrying trend of religious influence overshadowing evidence-based learning in South Asian education systems.
