A member of Communication Team of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Elikem Kotoko has descended heavily on the Education Minister, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh saying either he is very “empty” on the job or he is deliberately lying to Ghanaian on the controversial Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) was mentioned.
“Sexuality is about who you are attracted to. I have children and you want to tell me that at this point of our lives that we are so poverty stricken and corruption is on the rise and there are so many challenges confronting us as a nation, as you now want us to go teaching our children who are 4, 5, 6 years sexuality? What an immoral government” – Mr. Kotoko fumes
According to Mr. Kotoko on Pan-African TV’s HotNews programme, yesterday, October 1, 2019, monitored by Awake News, it is unthinkable how the Minister who launched a curriculum that contained the CSE programme on Page 11 of the document would tell the whole public that there was no such mention on the programme in the new curriculum and denialed knowledge of same.
“Page 11, number three item of the document made mention of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education. So when you have a Minister of Education who either is telling us he is very empty on the job or he is deliberately misleading the public, then there is a disaster looming in the future for us” – He told the host Justice Appiah
The Minister who claimed that he is not aware of the CSE in the new curriculum and that the tearches’ resource pack on the new curriculum made mention on the programme has since attracted backlash from teachers across the country pushing them to expose the Minister by sharing the portions of their resource pack that contains the topic under discussion.
But the Ghana Education Service (GES) has refuted suggestions that the CSE being pursued is aimed at promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in the country.
The GES further added that certain additions to the CSE manual has not been approved by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) hence the materials that have been heavily circulated on social media are yet to be authorised to be taught in schools.
A press release by the Head of Public Relations at the Ghana Education Service (GES), Cassandra Twum Ampofo, on Monday, 30 September 2019, said: “Indeed, on the 29 of April 2019, the Ghana Education Service wrote to the Acting Executive 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 release explained that “the new standard-based curriculum being implemented has nothing to do with LGBT issues, masturbation or explicit display/labelling of intimate body parts” as being suggested by some anti-LGBT campaign groups, the clergy and a section of the public.
By: Efo Korsi Senyo / awakenewsroom.com