{"id":2030,"date":"2019-10-01T00:04:50","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T00:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/governancesolutions.wordpress.com\/?p=1122"},"modified":"2022-11-22T01:47:34","modified_gmt":"2022-11-22T01:47:34","slug":"understanding-the-outcry-against-comprehensive-sexual-education-in-ghana-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sunesishq.com\/notes\/understanding-the-outcry-against-comprehensive-sexual-education-in-ghana-2\/","title":{"rendered":"UNDERSTANDING THE OUTCRY AGAINST COMPREHENSIVE SEXUALITY EDUCATION IN GHANA"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Solomon APPIAH<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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For some days now, family campaigners, religious groups and ordinary Ghanaians have raised an outcry in the media about the Government of Ghana\u2019s Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) policy document<\/span><\/a>. One news outlet ran the story \u2018Comprehensive Sexuality Education: Education Minister lied to us \u2013 Catholic Bishops cry out\u2019<\/span><\/a>. There are others like that. Much of the discourse contains misinformation that this post will seek to address such as: What is CSE? What does it entail? Has it been implemented elsewhere? Where does it come from? These are a few of the questions this post will attempt to address, however in a very succinct form due to a lack of space for a topic like this.<\/span><\/p>\n

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DEFINING CSE<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>There is no generally accepted definition but one proffered<\/span><\/a> by Family Watch International, a nonprofit organization bearing a Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations is this: \u201cCSE is a highly controversial,\u2015rights-based approach to sex education that encompasses a great deal more than just teaching children and youth about sexual intercourse and human reproduction. Developed in the West, primarily in the United States, CSE is now being implemented in most countries around the world. Comprehensive sexuality education programs seek to change society by changing sexual and gender norms and teaching youth to advocate for their sexual rights. Most CSE programs promote acceptance of diverse sexual identities and orientations and enlist youth in combatting \u201chomophobia\u201d and \u201cheterosexism\u201d. These CSE programs have an almost obsessive focus on sexual pleasure, instructing children and youth at the earliest ages on how to obtain sexual pleasure in a variety of ways. Some programs even encourage sexual exploration for children as young as age five. Planned Parenthood, one of the largest purveyors of sexuality education in the United States, explains on their website that sexuality education addresses \u201cvalues exploration,\u201d \u201csafer sex,\u201d \u201csexual attitudes and values,\u201d \u201csexual orientation,\u201d and \u201csexual pleasure.\u201d[1]<\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n

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NOT LIMITED TO GHANA \u2013 GLOBAL IN DIMENSION<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Interestingly, this problem where the general public is kicking against a Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) policy program is not limited to Ghana. A simple internet search<\/a> will show citizens all around the world including in the UK, USA, Canada, Namibia are protesting CSE implementation in their educational systems. The United Nations through the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) as well as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and other organizations are the tip of the spear pushing governments to implement these \u2018comprehensive\u2019 sexuality education policies but the hands<\/span><\/a> that moved the spear include but are not limited to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS). How does SIECUS promote CSE internationally today? UNESCO works in partnership with SIECUS. A former director of SIECUS is one of the principle authors<\/span><\/a> of its International Guidelines on Sexuality Education.<\/span><\/p>\n

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There are some in the Ghanaian media who suggested that this policy emanated originally and solely from the Ghana Education Service. This is ludicrous. It\u2019s a global agenda aimed at globalizing Sexuality Education. This global agenda has been carefully deployed from the international sphere to local levels. The logos on the Ghana document page (ii) refute the claim of those making such an argument. One wonders if the government gained anything in exchange for adopting these guidelines. UNESCO, in collaboration with other UN agencies\u2014including UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the World Health Organization (WHO) are the ones who originally published<\/span><\/a> the \u201cInternational Guidelines on Sexuality Education, first released in 2009 in draft form. Ghana\u2019s CSE policy is simply an offshoot of this main policy. After a huge public outcry at the inappropriate and graphic nature of the Guidelines, UNESCO revised them, removing some of the most explicit language and has now published a somewhat less controversial version\u201d. The outcry has been ongoing since 2009 when the first draft was released. But governments refuse to listen. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The Dailymail UK published an article on 23 September 2019, titled \u2018Children as young as SIX are to be given compulsory self-touching lessons that critics say are sexualising youngsters\u2019<\/span><\/a>. The article states, \u201cSome parents believe the lessons \u2013 part of a controversial new sex and relationships teaching programme called All About Me \u2013 are \u2018sexualising\u2019 their young children. All About Me is being rolled out across 241 primaries by Warwickshire County Council and could be adopted by other local authorities next year as part of the Government\u2019s overhaul of Relationship and Sex Education (RSE)\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

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What is the RSE? It is the UK\u2019s version of Ghana\u2019s CSE. The BBC also carried a story on 12 July 2018 titled, \u201cCanada province cancels new sex-ed curriculum after protests<\/span><\/a>\u201d. The Namibian, a newspaper also carried the story \u201cChurches frown on sex education<\/span><\/a>\u201d. In this paper, \u201cThe Council of Churches in Namibia and some parents have called for the removal of the comprehensive sexuality education from the school curriculum due to what they term immorality. Revised in 2013, the comprehensive sex education (CSE) course is part of the life skills subject, and meant to give pupils in Grade 4 to Grade 12 the skills and values to make appropriate and healthy choices in their sexual lives.\u201d. In California protested<\/a> the CSE guidelines.<\/span><\/p>\n

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COMMON COMPONENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE SEXUALITY EDUCATION PROGRAMS<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n