The Islamic State's aversion to other religions and ideologies is well-known, and it is on display once again, with the jihadist outfit vowing to keep Charles Darwin's evolution theory out of textbooks in Iraqi schools.
The Islamic State has issued new rules to schools, which it has publicised through bulletins in mosques and markets in Mosul, a part of which reads – "good news of the establishment of the Islamic State Education Diwan by the caliph who seeks to eliminate ignorance, to spread religious sciences and to fight the decayed curriculum."
Schools will now have to substitute references to 'Iraq' or 'Syria' with 'Islamic State', and teachers along with students will be segregated on the basis of gender.
While the theory of evolution was reportedly never taught in Iraqi schools, the IS has explicitly banned it, an attitude also often associated with far-right Christian propagandists.
The jihadist group has also clamped down on music, art and literature, while also declaring patriotic songs as blasphemous in schools in the captured city of Mosul, where students are set for a new academic year.
However, there seems to be an air of defiance to this medieval diktat by IS, with student not showing up in classrooms, as parents are reportedly concerned about safety as well as 'incorrect' education.
"What's important to us now is that the children continue receiving knowledge correctly, even if they lose a whole academic year and an official certification," Mosul resident Abu Hassan told The Associated Press. "They will brainwash them and contaminate their thoughts," he said.
