Areport published recently in the Nature and in other newspapers that the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has removed the Periodic Table, Darwin’s theory of evolution and some other foundational topics related to source of energy and environmental sustainability from the school syllabus has raised eyebrows for obvious reasons. The social media is flooded with comments, condemnations, and opinions.

Readers may be taken by surprise to learn that similar attempts were made in some school boards in the USA almost a quarter century back, that is at the beginning of this century. One may remember an article by this author published in the 20 May 2001 edition of The Statesman, arguing against such a move when a religious group known as ‘Creationists’ removed Darwin’s theory of evolution, the geological theory of plate tectonics, cosmological Big Bang theory from the school curriculum.

The only difference is that in the USA, the protagonist was a religious fundamentalist group, whereas in India the action has been initiated by NCERT, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education, responsible for formulating the education strategy and programme for schools and higher education in India.

The periodic table is not just a catalogue of elements arranged in rows and columns with chemical symbols, atomic numbers, and their masses. In 1869, Dmitri Mendeleev started with 63 elements known at that time, arranged the elements with similar properties in a certain formation (columns) so that the characteristic of any element could be gauged just by looking at its position on the table. One of the unique aspects of Mendeleev’s periodic table was the prediction of undiscovered elements in the gaps that were left in the table with their atomic weights and characteristics.

These predictions made the periodic table more interesting and a useful tool for research. The periodic table has gone through many improvements with the progress of science. In recent times, the table has been used to predict and produce elements in the laboratory beyond the naturally occurring elements. The table further provides other information such as the size of the atom (atomic radius), ionization energy (the energy required to remove an electron from an atom), electron affinity (the amount of energy released when an atom forms a negative ion), and electronegativity (an atom’s tendency to attract a pair of electrons).

This information becomes useful for myriad fields of science and technology. During the International Year of the Periodic Table in 2019 marking the 150th anniversar y of Mendeleev’s publication of the Periodic Table, UNESCO proclaimed “The Periodic Table of Chemical Elements is more than just a guide or catalogue of the entire known atoms in the universe; it is essentially a window on the universe, helping to expand our understanding of the world around us.” NCERT has issued an official clarification on the step taken, saying that contents of the textbooks have been rationalised in order to reduce the load on students.

The periodic table has not been removed from the entire school curriculum – just that it will be taught to science students of classes 11 and 12. Introduction of elements, their chemical symbols, formation of compounds, aids, bases and salts, metals and non-metals; carbon and its compounds will be covered in classes 9 and 10.

The author emphasises that the periodic table being such an icon of chemistry cannot be completely ignored for all students. It could have been introduced to the students at classes 9 and 10 (which is still a common class for all) while finer details and their applications to different fields could be left for teaching at higher classes. Most of the scientific discoveries, if not all, have a (hi)story behind them. Even a dilettante has a role in spreading science and scientific ideas.

Science topics could be made more captivating if a bit of history of its origin could be conveyed in the form of ‘story-telling’ which, then will be far more enjoyable to the students. The periodic table fits well into this category. NCERT could include some such stories in their textbooks which the teachers could use to make the learning process more interesting to students. Evolution in the broadest sense teaches us that the universe has a history and significant changes have taken place over time.

If we look at the galaxies, the stars, the planet Earth, and especially at life on Earth, we can see that things today are very different from what they were in the past. Galaxies, stars, planets, and life forms have slowly evolved over time. Biological evolution refers to the scientific theory that living things share similar ancestors, from whom they have gradually diverged. Darwin called it the “descent with modification”.

There is abundant and consistent evidence in the areas of astronomy, physics, biochemistry, geochronology, geology, biology, anthropology, and other sciences to show that evolution has indeed taken place. What still lies in the shadow, however, is the knowledge of how evolution has taken place, and what could be the processes and mechanisms that produced the change. Some people, on the other hand, are not satisfied with the scientific reasoning and are at pains to establish that scientific laws do not support the theory of evolution.

They argue that Darwin’s theory of evolution violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics, on the argument that entropy can never decrease. Entropy is considered as a measure of disorder, whereas evolution, they argue, is a process that moves from disorder to order and therefore violates thermodynamic laws.

The scientific answer to this is that the laws of thermodynamics that we usually learn in our undergraduate classes are based on a “closed” or isolated system. There is enough scientific evidence to suggest that entropy can, and does, decrease in an “open system” where the system is allowed to interact with other external systems. In that sense, our earth is an open system as long as it interacts with other systems such as the sun. In today’s world, climate change and environmental sustainability (ES) are the most discussed and challenging issues. ES is about creating an equilibrium between consumerist human behaviour and the world we live in, which can be achieved by living in a way with minimum wastage so as to avoid unnecessary depletion of natural resources.

Environmental sustainability needs to become a part of our life. Just as we brush our teeth every morning for personal health, we should follow some basic rules for environmental sustainability which will improve the world’s health and will bring gains for everyone. ES improves the quality of human life with minimum strain on the earth’s supporting ecosystem, its resources and therefore, needs to be inculcated from early in life. The removal of fundamental topics related to source of energy and environmental sustainability is akin to depriving the young citizens of intellectual nutrition.

One has to understand the effort needed to generate electricity from different sources in the modern society against the effort required to generate the same from fossil fuel (read coal) in the late nineteenth century. It is only then that people will appreciate its importance and impact. Unless the students understand the various sources of energy and their relationship with the earth’s environment, they can not be expected to grow up as responsible citizens and achieve this environmental sustainability. Ironically, the prediction made in the article in The Statesman two decades ago “What can happen in the United States today may happen in our country tomorrow” has become a stark reality. Since NCERT is a responsible body with no vested interest, it could have been done with better transparency. In this age of digital communication, maintaining transparency is not an issue at all.

What NCERT could have done was to have opened up their recommendations for public viewing as a beta version seeking feedback from the citizens, especially from parents, teachers, academics, and incorporating those as much as possible.

This could have avoided a lot of the backlash that is being faced today. After all, the citizens (read students) are the ultimate stakeholders. The idea of New India is not only to produce educated Indians but more importantly, to create responsible residents with the core values of a conscientious citizen.

(The writer is an author and Member of the National Commission of History of Science.)