By Agnes Ansah, GNA
Accra, Oct. 15, GNA – The National Population Council (NPC) has revised its guidelines on Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), introduced in 2019, following strong public opposition.
At a stakeholder engagement in Accra on Wednesday, the NPC said the document had been renamed Reproductive Health Education (RHE) because of perceived associations between CSE and global advocacy for Sexuality and Gender Minority (SGM) issues.
Another major revision concerned the age at which pupils would begin studying the subject.
The 2019 guidelines proposed introducing sexuality education at age four, but the revised guidelines set the starting age at six.
The NPC outlined topics to be developed into learning content for pupils and students at different levels of education.
At the primary level, the topics would include values, social norms and hygiene; the body, puberty and gender roles; and relationships, families and fairness.
Junior High School (JHS) topics would cover relationships and sources of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services; unintended pregnancy and abortion; and human rights and sexual rights abuses.
Others are alcohol, drugs and substance abuse; sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV and AIDS; and assertiveness, communication and self-esteem.
At the Senior High School (SHS) level, the proposed topics would include gender, mobility and safety; gender-based violence and empowerment; and healthy relationships, empathy, respect and love.
Madam Angela El-Adas, Chairperson of the NPC Council, told the media on the sidelines of the engagement that the guidelines were being developed to provide young people with accurate information on sexual and reproductive health.
Young people, she said, were increasingly exposed to inaccurate information about sexual health through social media, making it necessary to provide them with appropriate guidance.
“If you look at social media and what is going on, if we do not teach our young people, social media will teach them, their peers will teach them; and if their peers and social media teach them, what information will they get? Will they get the right information?” she asked.
Madam El-Adas said guidelines grounded in Ghanaian culture would help protect young people from potentially harmful information encountered online.
“If we have a guideline that spells out culturally accepted languages, then we know that it is Ghana-specific and people will not oppose it,” she added.
Mr Isaac T. Sopelle, the Deputy Director of the NPC, presented an implementation roadmap, indicating that further stakeholder engagements would be held to gather input.
He said a technical working group would also be established to accelerate the development of learning content based on the guidelines.
The group would prepare a detailed work plan outlining timelines, deliverables and resource requirements before the document was rolled out.
The 2019 CSE guidelines attracted widespread criticism over their proposed introduction of sexuality education to children as young as four.
While the NPC and other supporters argued that the policy was essential to providing young people with effective sexuality education, critics, including faith-based institutions and the National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights, questioned the appropriateness of introducing sex education at the primary school level.
They called for the policy to be halted, arguing that it could undermine children’s moral development.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe
Reporter: Agnes Ansah
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