General News of Monday, 30 September 2019

Source: starrfm.com.gh

Sex Education programme new to us – Concerned teachers

The Teachers' Association have refuted claims by GES they have been briefed on the new curriculum The Teachers' Association have refuted claims by GES they have been briefed on the new curriculum

The Concerned Teachers Association of Ghana says teachers in the country are not aware of the controversial Comprehensive Sexuality Education curriculum which is starting next academic year.

According to them, claims by the Ghana Education Service that teachers have been briefed about the curriculum are untrue.

Ghana and the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched the CSE programme this year in a bid to empower adolescents and young people to deepen their scope of existing activities to attain a Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE).

It would support delivery of good quality CSE that empowers adolescents and young people to deepen the scope of existing activities to attain an almost full-scale implementation of CSE in six countries also known as the Programme Acceleration Countries – Ghana, Eswatini, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the Education ministry has said.

Over 20 million learners in 64,000 primary and secondary schools are expected to be reached on the Programme, as well as 47,000 preservice teachers and 367,000 in-service teachers.

The Programme is also expected to reach 30 million people including parents, guardians, religious leaders, and young people out of school through community engagement activities and ten million young people through other platforms.

The initiative has however sparked controversy in Ghana with many calling on the government to withdraw it.

Speaking to Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Monday, Adokwei Awuley, Communications. Dir. for the Coalition of Concerned Teachers said most teachers have no knowledge of the new subject.

“This topic for primary school is something new for all of us. How to teach 10 year old among others how to carry pregnancy? we don’t much about it. We also heard and saw on social media”.