Comprehensive sexuality education put on hold

The Department of Basic Education acknowledged that consultation on the content of the new scripted lesson plans and educator guides of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) did not take place with role players and has undertaken to do so now.

This was decided at a regular meeting of the governing body organisations with the National Department of Basic Education (DBE) in Gauteng on Wednesday, 27 November.

The Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (Fedsas) raised strong objections to the planned curriculum at their meeting with the Department of Education after a media storm that has revealed the explicit sexual content of the new CSE curriculum.

Fedsas requested that implementation of any new plans and content of the CSE be discontinued until the consultation process has been undertaken and completed. The Department of Education has also committed to communicating Fedsas’s request to decision-makers.

According to Paul Colditz, the CEO of Fedsas, they will put together a panel of experts who can provide them with informed and thoughtful advice on the content of the lesson plans and educator guides before the intended consultation process begins. The extensive criticism that Fedsas has received will be conveyed in the process.

Meanwhile, Fedsas is waiting for the Department of Education to notify them of the commencement and course of the proposed consultation process.

Before Fedsas’s meeting with the DBE, the Potchefstroom Church Leaders (PCL) also became aware of the explicit sexual content that children will be exposed to. They have laid formal complaints at Fedsas and various other interest groups.

The PCL not only objected to the Department of Basic Education’s lack of consultation, but also to their lack of transparency. “It is inexcusable that the South African public should have to read about the proposed mandatory CSE content in newspapers. We, as the PCL, demand that such content be made available to us for our input, especially when it comes to content that the department blatantly states will be teaching values/culture/sexuality, by opting them out of a particular class that conflicts with their values,” says the PCL in their statement.

The PCL also object to the labeling of their traditional cultural values or religious beliefs as a barrier to teaching their children about the risks, consequences and responsibilities of having sex.