ACCRA, Ghana, October 16, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) is against the implementation of a proposed new sex education curriculum in the country that it says will introduce children to Western homosexual ideology.
Bishop Philip Naameh, 72, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Tamale and president of the GCBC, said UNESCO’s Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) will introduce LGBT propaganda, among other inappropriate materials, to Ghana’s children.
According to the news website Ghana Web, Naameh has stated that the CSE “is a subtle way to introduce this gay and lesbian thing to our children.”
In an interview with a Ghanian radio station last month, Naameh indicated that he believed Minister of Education Matthew Opoku Prempeh had misled the country’s religious leaders at a meeting in September 2019.
According to Radioangelus.com, Naameh explained that Prempeh had consulted the interreligious group about ideas “western NGOs” were bringing into the country. The Minister had intimated that he and the government didn’t feel ready for them. Therefore, the archbishop was surprised by the CSE curriculum the Ministry will adopt.
“It is a big surprise to me to see that they want to put this in the syllabus and start teaching 5–year–olds about sex,” Naameh said.
“It means the Minister of Education was not honest with us — or all those within the education sector are not of one mind and one heart and this is a pity.”
Naameh called upon parents and politicians to reject the program, which he said had been described to him as a draft.
“(W)e want to call on people in high positions and parents to reject it outright because this is not for us,” he stated.
“It is a subtle way to introduce this gay and lesbian thing to our children. We are already struggling to teach morality to our children at all levels of our schools and they want to bring this in. This is unacceptable.”
Other religious leaders in Ghana have similarly voiced their opposition to the sex–ed curriculum. The nation’s Islamic leaders, for example, have been clear in their distaste for the UNESCO program.
“We appeal to the Ministry (of Education) and the GES to drop that satanic agenda in the interest of national cohesion and moral promotion,” wrote a representative of the Office of the National Chief Imam last year.
Alhaji Khuzaima Osman indicated that the ONCI spoke for a broad coalition of Islamic groups in Ghana.
“We would like to state unequivocally that the Islamic community does not accept any form of educating minors and pupils on sexuality,” he added.
“In our estimation, such a move is an attempt to hide behind educational reforms to brainwash the pupils with LGBT agenda.”
Ghana Web reported that the CSE will be introduced to children as young as four in the nation’s public schools next year. The news source also stated that the Ghana Education Service (GES) had denied that children would be taught anything inappropriate for their age group.
Cassandra Twum Ampofo, a spokeswoman for the GES, told the Ghana News Agency that the “new Standard Based Curriculum being implemented has nothing to do with LGBT issues, masturbation or explicit display/labeling of intimate body parts.”
Ampofo maintained that the program will not “throw out” the promotion of sexual abstinence.
“The goal of CSE is to equip school children with age and cultural appropriate information to explore and nurture positive values and attitudes towards their sexual and reproductive health and to develop self-esteem, respect for human rights and gender equality,” she wrote.
“The curriculum is also to develop self-esteem, respect for human rights and gender equality and help students to make informed decisions about their health, with emphasis on Ghanaian cultural values and norms.”
The GES spokeswoman maintained that the UNESCO-approved program would not be the same as it is in Europe or North America and that its guidelines had not yet been approved by the government agency. She indicated that they would not be approved until the phrase “within the acceptable cultural values and norms of the Ghanaian Society” was added to them.
“The GES wishes to assure the general public that no special sessions have been organized or will ever be organized by the GES to train students as advocates for sexual rights, let alone LGBT rights which are culturally, socially, legally, morally and religiously alien to Ghana,” Ampofo wrote.
“The GES is a state agency and will not under any circumstance implement any program which goes contrarily to the legal, cultural norms, values and beliefs of the Ghanaian people.”
UNESCO says its comprehensive sex education program is “not just about sex.”
“It is about relationships, gender, puberty, consent, and sexual and reproductive health for all young people,” the United Nations’ educational wing states on its website.
However, the international organization StopCSE.org believes the program constitutes a war against children.
“Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) is one of the greatest assaults on the health and innocence of children,” it states on its website.
“This is because unlike traditional sex education, comprehensive sexuality education is highly explicit and promotes promiscuity and high-risk sexual behaviors to children as healthy and normal,” it continues.
“CSE programs have an almost obsessive focus on teaching children how to obtain sexual pleasure in various ways. Yet, 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.”
The organization believes that the “ultimate goal” of the program is “to change the sexual and gender norms of society, which is why CSE could be more accurately called ‘abortion, promiscuity, and LGBT rights education.’”
Yesterday, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay indicated her support for Pope Francis’ global education pact. She said UNESCO was “delighted” to be part of the pontiff’s program because “its goals reflect our own.”