By Qudissiyah Kasu
After receiving many queries from the Muslim public on the new and controversial Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) program that the Department of Education plans to incorporate into the South African curriculum, the Department of Education has invited public comment on its (CSE) scripted lesson plans (SLPs) until Friday, 28 February 2020 .
Even though the core aim of CSE and the new structured lesson plans is to help learners build an understanding of concepts, content, values and attitudes around sexuality, sexual behaviour as well as leading safe and healthy live, parents from faith-based communities have argued that it interferes in their right to guide their children.
This is because unlike traditional sex education, comprehensive sexuality education is highly explicit and promotes promiscuity and high-risk sexual behaviour to children as healthy and normal and ironically, comprehensive sexuality education programs are anything but comprehensive as they fail to teach children about all of the emotional, psychological and physical health risks of promiscuous sexual activity.
FOR SA Director Michael Swain said that since the debate there has been a positive response because at first the Department of Basic Education (DBE) had a very hard-line view about the CSE curriculum.
“As of now, they are giving parents and the public the chance to give their opinion about the content of the curriculum and there most possibly will be changes made to the curriculum. This is leading to it being an optional choice when it comes to what’s being put into curriculum.”
Swain said it’s very important that the public gives comment on this because the content in its current form will most likely be used.
“It’s been developed, it’s been printed and it is something the DBE will prefer schools use but its not compulsory so if content can be found that still teaches all the main points the CAPS Life Orientation section is teaching you are intitled to use it as a school.”
To share a comment, you can go to the Department of Basic Education’s website or emails can be sent to buys.q@dbe.gov.za
