GES expresses worry over false claims on CSE curriculum

The Ghana Education Service has rubbished reports that new comprehensive sexuality education introduced would touch on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues.

The GES says contrary to claims that the new curriculum will touch on masturbation or explicit sexual information to children as young as age four, the curriculum has nothing of that sought.

A statement issued and the Head of Public Relations, Cassandra Twum Ampofo said "the GES is surprised at the wild speculations and claims and wishes to clarify as follows: The new Standard Based Curriculum being implemented has nothing to do with LGBT issues, masturbation or explicit display/labelling of intimate body parts.

In all the training programmes on the curriculum from simulation through master training to the training of the 152,000 KG-P6 Teachers, there was no mention of any of these issues referred above.

The CSE does not seek to throw out the advocacy for sexual abstinence but rather seeks to reinforce it.

The goal of CSE is to equip school children with age and cultural appropriate information to explore and nurture positive values and attitudes towards their sexual and reproductive health and to develop self-esteem, respect for human rights and gender equality. It further seeks to help students to make informed decisions about their health, with emphasis on Ghanaian cultural values and norms.

Member States of the United Nations in Europe are mandated to roll out CSE in accordance with their

cultural norms and values. It is therefore wrong to insist that CSE as practical in Europe or North America has the same structures and content as being rolled out in Ghana.

Indeed on the 29th April 2019, the Ghana Education Service wrote to the Acting Executive Secretary of the National Curriculum and Assessment to request the insertion of the phrase "within the acceptable cultural values and norms of the Ghanaian Society’’. In the third objectives of page 3 of the CSE guidelines in circulation.

GES further noted that the insertion has not been made yet and therefore GES has not finally approved the CSE guidelines being discussed on various media platforms.

It assured the general public that no special sessions have been organized or will ever be organized by the GES to train students as advocates for sexual rights, let alone LGBT rights which are culturally, socially, legally, morally and religiously alien to Ghana.

The GES stressed it will not under any circumstance implement any programme which goes contrarily to the legal, cultural norms, values and beliefs of the Ghanaian people.