Darwin back in Italy's schools

[Kellanved]

...
Established by legislative decree on February 19, the new teaching programs for secondary schools made no mention of the history of human evolution, nor of the relationship between mankind and other species.

On April 23, some of the country's top scientists launched the petition through the daily La Repubblica to reintroduce the teaching among students aged 12 to 14. The document urged Moratti to "review the secondary schools programs and to rectify an oversight which is detrimental to the scientific culture of future generations."

Fearing the measure could pave the way for creationist teaching, more than 45,000 citizens joined the scientists in the appeal.

"Moratti proved to be an open-minded and very intelligent person. Not everybody is able to listen and then reconsider in a critical way his or her ideas and positions," Umberto Veronesi, director of the European Institute of Oncology in Milan and former health minister, who also signed the petition, wrote in La Repubblica.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040429/01/