President Nana Akufo-Addo
President Nana Akufo-Addo has denied that his administration is pushing hard to introduce negative sexuality education to young students through the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) curriculum.
According to him, the CSE was introduced in 2015 under the former President John Mahama’s administration.
He stated that the current management of the Education Ministry decided to review the policy and that after the review, it was forwarded to Cabinet.
The President noted that “when the new guidelines were brought to cabinet, they did not pass the cultural sensitivity test.”
He said it was decided that whatever sex education is undertaken in schools must be done within the Ghanaian cultural context.
That decision was made in March in 2019, he noted.
The President made the disclosure when he met with some members of the Clergy on Sunday in Accra.
According to him, after the CSE curriculum, in its current form was rejected, the Ghana Education Service (GSE), wrote to those who are responsible for making up the curriculum to insist on making the Ghanaian cultural context to be the basis for the CSE.
He said GES wrote to those in charge of the curriculum in April 2019.
He indicated that GES informed them that words in the curriculum should be within the acceptable cultural values and norms of the Ghanaian Culture.
None of our children who are now in kindergarten and primary schools are being taught what is being alleged, he said.
There is nothing in the new curriculum that comes anywhere near what are being said on social media, he noted.
Whilst I am President, there will not be talks, discussions in our schools about anything negative that comes under Comprehensive Sexual Education, he assured.
There has been controversy over the introduction of the new CSE curriculum, with some Ghanaians, especially the clergy and child rights groups rejecting the curriculum.
But Mr. Akufo-Addo observed that there were deliberate falsehoods being peddled about the CSE on social media by some individuals with political interest.
He challenged the clergy to verify the claims themselves.
He noted that the reason for introducing SHS was to equip Ghanaian children to compete with their peers from around the world in the 21st century and not to pollute their minds.
Educational policies are not made by NGOs, not made on social media and political parties, he said.
He stated that educational policies are made by Government and assured that as long as he remains President, nothing deleterious will pass through the educational system.
BY Melvin Tarlue