Comprehensive sexuality curriculum was not to impose sex edu on Ghanaians – UNESCO Sec-Gen

The Secretary-General of the Ghana Commission for UNESCO, Ama Serwah Nerquaye Tetteh has clarified issues bordering on the comprehensive sexuality curriculum which angered a cross section of Ghanaians some two years ago.

In an interview with Abraham Aidoo on the “Transformation Agenda Series” on Class91.3FM, she explained that it was never the intention of government nor UNESCO nor any other UN body to impose a comprehensive sexuality curriculum education on Ghanaians.

“No one as far as UNESCO and other UN bodies are concerned are intending to do so. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NACCA), they came out clearly to say, that was not the intention,” she said.

According to Ms Tetteh, decisions go through deliberations and considerations by the higher authorities before they are finally passed.

She noted that the “decision table” has representatives from the Christian Council and the Muslim council who make sure that decisions made are in conformity with the country’s culture and laws.

“Members on the decision table come from all; we have representatives from the Christian Council, the Muslim council, just to make sure that we don’t lose who we are in trying to educate our people and so at no point was that the intention,” she stressed.

She further stated that, people refused to take a keen look into the curriculum explaining that the curriculum was to usher the students into “gender knowledge” in bits.

She noted that “If anybody had taken the time to look at the curriculum, it was to start by explaining to young people that we are different. There are two genders, whether we like it or not; there are males and there are females. That realisation, that awareness and how different we are as we grow because young people should grow with that information in bits and in pieces”.

In November 2018, the United Nations Population Foundation (UNFPA) and Ghana Education Service released a document titled “Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in Ghana” to NACCA.

This sparked a volcanic debate and anger among religious groups and some individuals who believed it was a “satanic” attempt to promote LGBT+ among Ghanaian children.