NGO counsels 15 schools on sex education in Osun
A Non-Governmental Organization, Pen Publisher, in collaboration with Foundation for Africa Cultural Heritage, on Thursday, held a counseling session and prize-given contest with 15 secondary schools on sex education.
Speaking on the theme: ‘Dangers of Comprehensive Sexuality Education Curriculum,’ the CEO of Pen Publisher, Hallimat Alli-Bankole, noted that the content and delivery of CSE endangers children, hence the resolve to create awareness of its dangers to protect vulnerable children from continued exposure to it and to call for its removal from the school curriculum as directed by the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu.
The minister had directed the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to exclude sex education from the basic education curriculum.
According to Bankole, the NGO is also working with the Coalition of Civil Societies Organizations of Nigeria which is monitoring the curriculum and subsequently raising awareness about the harm in the curriculum.
She explained that the NGO will not relent in monitoring the effectiveness of the order of the minister until it is fully implemented and sexual education is expunged from the curriculum.
Speaking, a legal consultant of the Foundation for Africa Cultural Heritage, Mary Ekemezie, who frowned at teaching pupils how to have sex, maintained that “they have no business learning that.”
According to her, there is an over-emphasis on sex education to the detriment of other things that children have to learn.
She said, “I commend the minister of education for the directive that schools should expunge sex education from the basic education curriculum. Schools should take that directive into cognizance in what they are passing on to students in schools.
“The schools have no business teaching sex education. We need to expunge sex education and replace it with authentic education that fosters in the children an understanding of who the human person is.
“We need an education that has a philosophical undertone and helps the student to learn how to critically evaluate the information they receive and an education that is bothered about human dignity. We need an education that enables students to regulate emotions.
“Our position is that the curriculum is harmful to students and should be expunged from our curriculum,” she added.
The Ataoja School of Science where the event was held, emerged winner of the talks, while Eemaan Foundation College came 2nd and Nacomyo Comprehensive High School came 3rd.
SOURCE: SUNNEWS
