A new draft of Turkey's national curriculum excludes Charles Darwin's theory of evolution from textbooks, with an official saying high school students are ill-equipped to understand the "controversial" theory. 

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reportedly approved the draft curriculum, bringing Turkey one step closer to joining Saudi Arabia in not teaching Darwin to students. 

Educators in Turkey believe evolutionary theory should only be taught from undergraduate level onwards, with a ministry official telling Turkish daily Hurriyet that 9th grade students "are not endowed with antecedents to discuss the 'Origin of Life and Evolution' section of biology classes." 

The decision has been subject to fierce debate in Turkey, with academics and scientists insisting the subject should be taught to children from the 5th grade onwards.

The overwhelming majority of the scientific community accepts evolution as the dominant scientific theory of biological diversity, and teaching the theory is an accepted part of science syllabi across most of the globe. 

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