“Comprehensive Sexuality Education seeks to enforce cultural values and norms in Ghana” – GES

Ghana Education Service (GES) says, the introduction of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) into the basic school curriculum will help students  make informed decisions about their health, with emphasis on Ghanaian cultural values and norms.

According to a statement issued by the GES, the CSE implementation has nothing to do with LGBT, masturbation or explicit display/labelling of intimate body parts.

The response comes after some materials alleged to be part of learning materials for the CSE  went viral on social media.

GES in a statement said it was surprised at the “wild speculations and claims” on the matter and has come out to bring clarifications to the false claims.

“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, ” extracts of the statement available to The Ghana Report stated.

It added “The CSE rather seeks to help students make informed decisions about their health, with emphasis on Ghanaian cultural values and norms.”

Find below the full statement from GES

GES RESPONSE ON COMPREHENSIVE SEXUALITY EDUCATION

The attention of Management of the Ghana Education Service has been drown to discussions on various media platforms over allegations that the GES is introducing explicit sexual information to children as young as age four under the guise of Comprehensive Sexual Education (CSE).

The GES is surprised at the wild speculations and claims and wishes to clarify as follows:

1. The new Standard Based Curriculum being implemented has nothing to do with LGBT issues, masturbation or explicit display/labelling of intimate body parts.
2. 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 the issues referred to above.
3. 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.
4. Member states of the United Nations are mandated to toll out CSE in accordance with their cultural norms and values. 11 is therefore wrong to insist that CSE as practiced in Europe or North America has the same structures and content as is being rolled out in Ghana.
5. Indeed on the 2nd of April 2019, the Ghana Education Service wrote to the Acting Executive Secretary of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment to request the insertion of the phrase -within the acceptable cultural values and norms of the Ghanaian Society’. In the third objective of Page 3 of the CSE guidelines in circulation.

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

The GES wishes to assure 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 is a state Agency and will not under any circumstance implement any programme which goes contrarily to the legal, cultural norms, values and beliefs of the Ghanaian people.