As the new school year started in Turkey on Sept. 18, civil society groups and media outlets rang alarm bells. The issue is Turkey’s new K-12 curriculum, updated over the summer to remove all instruction on evolution from science classes and expand religious instruction.

The debate started earlier in the summer when the Ministry of National Education updated the K-12 curriculum by removing evolution and introducing the concept of jihad. Education Minister Ismet Yilmaz defended the decision July 18, arguing that evolution “is above the students’ level and not directly relevant.” Not surprisingly, critics questioned whether, if evolution is “too complicated” for adolescents, religious texts — with their frequent use of metaphors and allegories — might be even harder for them to grasp.

In a supposedly secular country run by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which has roots in political Islam, education policy is hotly contested. Turkey’s Education and Science Workers Union, the country’s largest teachers union, harshly criticized the new curriculum for being “designed in a way that reflects the government’s world view.” Union officials also said the AKP’s misguided policies will “commercialize and liquidate public education” by forcing middle- and upper-class parents to send their children to private schools. Defenders of the new curriculum point out that Turkey’s decades-old educational system relied on rote memorization and outdated pedagogical methods.

International headlines reflect secular Turkish worries. While The New York Times interpreted the news as, “Ataturk, Darwin and jihad get face-lifts,” the BBC’s headline summarized the secular concerns best: “Jihad in, evolution out.” The Guardian reminded its readers that Turkey’s new curriculum reflects President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s desire to create a new “devout generation” of Turks.