General News of Monday, 7 October 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

Ghana has not approved guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education - MoE

Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Education Minister Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Education Minister

The Ministry of Education (MoE) has said the government has not approved any guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) at the basic level.

"It is true that there are documents, functions and tapes to show that CSE was made part of a revised curriculum that was started in 2015.

"It is a fact that there are manuals for teaching CSE which began in the said year before the Nana Akufo-Addo-led Administration came to office," Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, the Minister of Education, explained.

It was also a fact, he stressed, that: "The current President's Cabinet did not agree with the CSE when put before it."

"We in the Ministry were directed to make sure that, according to Article 39 of the 1992 Constitution, this sits with the cultural norms of the country," he said.

Dr Opoku Prempeh, who was addressing the 2019 'Ghana Teacher Prize' event at the Paa Joe Stadium, Kumasi, said the country has its own policy approval processes and procedures which were being adhered to.

CSE had become a topical and vexed issue in the Ghanaian society recently, with the majority of the citizenry sharing their own opinions on the issue.

It bothers on a type of education instructional method based on a curriculum that aims to give students the knowledge, attitudes, skills and values to make appropriate and healthy choices in their sexual lives.

Key stakeholders, including religious and traditional authorities, as well as civil society organizations have made inputs to the on-going debate expressing their resolute positions, warning the government to be circumspect on the issue.



Dr Opoku Prempeh said government would always pursue the interest of the citizenry in whatever decision it took, especially regarding educational development at all levels.

He lauded the award-winning teachers for their dedicated and selfless services to the nation.

The programme had more than 40 teaching and non-teaching staff receiving prizes for their hard work.

They included a cheque for 180, 000 Ghana Cedis for the purchase of a three-bedroom house, 4x4 pick-up and saloon vehicles, refrigerators, television sets, laptop computers and certificates.

The Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, was the Guest of Honour for the programme, which coincided with the celebration of the World Teachers' Day.