SOME religious leaders in the country have rejected the proposed guidelines on the Comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health (CSRH) to be introduced in schools by the Ghana Education Service next academic year.
The clergymen suspect that the new subject is a disguised programme to introduce children to Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender (LBGT), abortion, oral sex among other sexually immoral acts.
In separate interviews with the Ghanaian Times in Accra yesterday, the ‘Men of God’ said the CSE was not in the moral interest of the country.
President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Most Reverend Philip Naameh, said the CSE was unacceptable.
“Children already have difficulty in discerning what is good or bad on social media and we want to throw this on top of them? I think this is not fair,” he stated.
The prelate appealed to parents to reject the programme because it was a way of introducing homosexuality into Ghanaian schools.
Rt Rev Dr Nana Anyani-Boadum, General Overseer of the Jesus Generation Ministries, said what Ghana needed at this point of its development was not comprehensive sexuality education.
“It is a disguised programme to introduce our children to transgender issues, abortion, oral sex, masturbation and other deviant lifestyles that will destroy the health of our children,” he said.
“As a country we need to remind our policy makers that there are certain boundaries that they cannot cross with impunity. The ultimate test of our civilisation is what we do to correct the wrongs in society and how we handle the generation coming after us,” he added.
The Anglican Bishop of Accra, Rt Rev. Daniel Sylvanus Mensah Torto on his part said with the CSE, the country was gradually pushing its children to a point where they would feel that they have the right to relate to anyone they want to sexually.
He stressed the need for the clergy to reject any LGBT agenda in the curriculum because it was in variance with Ghanaian culture.
“After 10 years of taking children through this process, they will accept sexuality [with the same sex] as part of life and we are not buying into this at all,” he emphasised.
The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana, Rt Rev. Dr Paul Kwabena Boafo said the curriculum needed to be reviewed, reassessed and evaluated because some of the terms used in the CSE were to promote the LGBTQ agenda.
He posited that exposing children at such tender age was improper because they would like to practise as a result of curiosity and questioned why major stakeholders like religious bodies were not consulted on the CSE.
The Office of National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, in a statement said “the Islamic Community does not accept any form of educating minors on sexuality. In our estimation, such a move is an attempt to hide behind education reforms to brainwash the pupils with LGBTQ agenda.”
Recommending that children are introduced to sexuality at age 10, the Office of the Chief Cleric argued that “this is the time children are expected to begin to understand the socio-moral consequences of the choice of sex orientation.”
“We appeal to the Ministry and GES to drop that satanic agenda in the interest of national cohesion and moral promotion,” the Office stated.
BY ANITA NYARKO-YIRENKYI
