KUMASI, OCTOBER 1, 2019 (CISA)-The President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC), Most Rev. Philip Naameh, has rejected the proposal to introduce sexuality education at the basic level in schools.
“We don’t accept that, as churches and I can speak clearly for the Catholic Church, that we reject an idea like this,” Most Rev. Philip Naameh said in an interview on Monday, September 30.
Archbishop Naameh further urged Ghanaians not to accept the proposal to introduce the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in schools.
The reaction follows the decision by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to introduce Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) into the basic school curriculum beginning next term.
According to Archbishop Naameh, the Education Minister, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh at a recent meeting with religious leaders in the country hinted of a proposal by some international Non-Governmental Organisation to introduce the program.
The archbishop is surprised to learn that “they want to put this in the syllabus and start teaching five-year-olds about sex.”
“Some people are telling me the syllabus is a draft and therefore we will like to appeal to people like you and parents to reject it outright and to make noise about it because this is not for us,” he said.
“We are already struggling to teach morality to our children at all levels in our schools and they want to bring this in. It is unacceptable,” he added.
The Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC) has described the plan to begin teaching CSE in all public schools to children from five years upwards as satanic.
The Ghana government and United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) launched the CSE programme this year in a bid to empower adolescents and young people to attain a Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE).
The curriculum is being implemented in Ghana, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe for what proponents say will be an effective delivery of quality comprehensive sexuality programme.
