By Michael Swain, Executive Director of Freedom ofReligion South Africa
New CSE curriculum likely to be rolled out in January 2020
FOR SA has clearly stated that, since it is impossible to teach Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) without imposing a value system, parents must have the right to know in advance what their child/ren will be taught on this subject and (if they so choose) to withdraw them from the class. This position has now been fully vindicated by the CSE Structured Lesson Plans (SPL’s) and Educator Guides, which have just been released to Parliament by the Department of Basic Education (DBE). There are strong indications that these materials will be rolled out in public schools throughout South Africa in January 2020.
The DBE is importing an international curriculum which has proved to be ineffective
The developmentof this new CSE content by the DBE has longbeen mired in controversy and secrecy. Theirrevision of the CSE curriculum came starkly to light in May this year when “Dr Eve”, a sex therapist whose liberal views onsex and human sexuality are well-known, revealed that she was a member of theteam reviewing the curriculum. Under pressure, the Department was quick to distancethemselves from her. However, they did admit that there had been no meaningfulconsultation with the most critical stakeholders in the process (parents and teachers)and gave assurances that the earliest that this curriculum would be rolled outin public schools would be in 2021.
This now appears not to be the truth. Instead, thanks to financial grants from inter alia USAID, the DBE has forged ahead and has now completed (with Ministerial sign-off) all the Structured Lesson Plans (SLPs) and Educator Guides for grades 4 to 12 and has piloted these lessons in five provinces. Despite being under no legal obligation to do so, the DBE has completely overhauled the old curriculum (which according to its own research, was successfully reducing instances of HIV infections and learner pregnancy). However, instead of keeping to its promise to use “African solutions for African problems”, the DBE has now incorporated and integrated UNESCO’s highly controversial International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education (ITGSE).
In so doing, theDBE have ignored the fact that scientific studies have revealed that the ITGSE curriculumand approach is ineffective in achieving its apparent objectives. On the contrary, a 2018 study showed thanmore than one (1) in four (4) schools (26%) showed negative effects onlearners’ sexual health, with decreases in condom use and increases in rape,sexual debuts, HIV/STIs, number of sexual partners, recent sex, or “paid forsex”. A 2019 study shows that the rateof harm appears even higher for school-based CSE in Africa than in othercontexts. It is also important to notethat one of the contributors to the ITGSE was Planned Parenthood, the notorious abortion provider who are involvedin a massive scandal for selling aborted baby parts and organs.
No meaningful consultation has yet taken place withparents
FOR SA has now had the opportunity (thanks to the ACDP) to review the SLPs and Educator Guides for the new CSE curriculum. We did not feel comfortable to include actual examples of these materials in this article as they are not suitable for sensitive viewers, but you can see/download them by clicking here.
As a parent, youmust now ask yourself if you are happy for your (Grade 4) child/ren to be partof a group discussion to identify their (and others’) “private parts”? Or to be taught about the risks of anintrusive lesbian relationship, homosexual molestation and sexual assault(Grade 5)? Or to be asked for their viewson sexting topless photos on WhatsApp (Grade 6)? Or to have their teacherdescribe what happens during oral, vaginal and anal sex (Grade 8)? Or the factthat Educators are compelled to teach your child/ren that sexual orientation isnot a matter of choice (Grade 11)? Or that, of the sexual “heroes and rolemodels” that your child is encouraged to respect and imitate, four of five are HIVpositive and three of five identify as LGBTQ (Grade 12)?
If the answer toany of the above is “no” - and there are many more examples than could havebeen used – then you have a very limitedtime to make your voice heard! Yourobjection will reinforce what the Department’s own research has already shown -that “traditional values” are “key barriers” to the implementation ofCSE throughout South Africa. However, insteadof listening to parents’ legitimate concerns, the Department’s response to datehas been to call these “parentalprejudices” and “cultural taboos”which must be tackled by “sensitising”parents and educators to simply accept the curriculum’s content and values. The DBE’s current view is that parents will beable to look at the books their children are given at school and will then beable to comment. This is clearly notmeaningful consultation.
The DBE’s own research shows strong resistance to the new CSE curriculum
When briefingthe Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Basic Education (PPC) on September 17th,2019, the DBE failed to mention the findings of the research they conducted onthe content’s effectiveness in the five pilot provinces. Following the piloting of the new CSEcurriculum in schools in five provinces, this Midline Report study on thenew SLPs has shown conclusively that there is little to no support from members of the school's senior managementteams, with many teachers feeling very uncomfortable delivering the content andmany parents stating that the type of graphic and ideologically-laden contentused in the new curriculum is completely inappropriate. Instead, the DBE focused on their claim thatCSE will help reduce gender violence and incidents of teenage pregnancy, HIVand STIs. Significantly, they alsofailed to provide Parliament with examples of the SLPs and Educator guides,instead adopting a “just trust us” approach.
FOR SA recogniseswhy the State feels a need to educate children about sex and its relatedresponsibilities and hazards. However,unlike a subject like Mathematics (where one plus one will always equal two,regardless of context), teaching on sex and sexuality is inevitablyvalue-laden. Of all subjects taught inschools, CSE is the most likely to make a lasting impact on children since theyare at a highly impressionable age and often unable to process the informationthat they are given. FOR SA has, therefore, consistently insisted that the rights of parents to raise theirchildren according to their own values and beliefs must be respected. As a result, parents must:
(a) be consulted on and shown the content of the CSE towhich their children will be exposed; and
(b) if it is in conflict with the values they hold, tohave the right to pull their child/ren from the class.
Parents’legitimate concerns are now being inflamed by the undue haste with which the Departmentis pushing the rollout of CSE and their inexplicable lack of properconsultation during the development process.
Make your voice heard!
FOR SA thereforeurges parents, teachers and other concerned parties to make sure that yourvoices are heard and that alternative solutions are properly considered. We recommend that you consider all of thefollowing options:
[author] [author_info]Michael was raised in England, graduating from the University of Bristol with an honours degree in Law before immigrating to South Africa in 1983. He has been a successful businessman as well as having spent over 30 years in ministry in South Africa, Europe and the USA. He serves as the Executive Director of Freedom of Religion South Africa (FOR SA).[/author_info] [/author]
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