PRESS RELEASE
Comprehensive Sexuality Education: Where things stand and where to from here?PRESS RELEASE BY CAUSE FOR JUSTICE
SUBJECT: Comprehensive Sexuality Education: Where things stand and where to from here?
31 MAY 2019 [** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE **]
In the wake of the 12 May Sunday Times article on CSE and subsequent public outrage, Cause for Justice earlier this week met with the Department of Basic Education – in a follow-on from two previous meetings – to get the facts, and put to bed speculation and suspicion about what exactly is going on in the halls of government.
When the story broke on 12 May, Cause for Justice (CFJ) decided to hold back on further commenting on the issue until we had an opportunity to meet with DBE again. The meeting took place on Monday, 27 May 2019. As a consequence of this meeting, CFJ published an article / update today, giving details on where things stand and providing guidance to interested parties on where to go from here.
In the article, CFJ address the most pertinent issues of interest to an already concerned public, including –
- In the wake of this week’s meeting, what we now know – the progress with DBE’s Scripted Lesson Plans (SLP’s) for Sexuality Education for all grades, piloting and reception of the new content at selected schools, the involvement and funding by international agencies, the related, but separate textbook writing project, the lacking evidential basis for providing mandatory CSE, government’s attempted justification thereof without evidence of positive impact and severe criticisms and concerns regarding CSE as promoted by UNESCO;
- What we currently don’t know or still don’t know;
- What the public can and should do, to obtain undisclosed, but crucially relevant information, to demand adequate public participation and ultimately to have their rights and responsibilities recognised / protected and to divert out of mandatory state-sanctioned CSE; and
- How stakeholders– most notably, parents – can act in the best interest of children they serve, care for and support through the schooling system.
CFJ close off the update with an invitation to stakeholders who are without representation:
“Any stakeholder or affected party who do not have existing channels to engage with DBE, are welcome and are invited to contact Cause for Justice at info@causeforjustice.org, with a request to act on your behalf and to represent your interests in this very serious and concerning matter affecting our children.”
[PRESS RELEASE ENDS]
For further queries, contact CFJ at:
E-mail: info@causeforjustice.org
Tel: 083 235 1511