The Welsh Government is seeking your views on the impact of the proposal to change parents’ ability to withdraw their children from sex education in the new curriculum.
The consultation will be on proposals that includes stopping the right of parents to withdraw their children from religious and sex education.
In the current curriculum, parents can prevent their child from going to Religious Education (RE) and sex education lessons. In the new curriculum, sex education will be replaced by Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) although this doesn’t change the fact that this is sex education.
It’s proposed that RSE and RE will be compulsory for all children aged 3 -16. The new curriculum, due to start in 2022, would include much broader topics than the sex education currently only taught in secondary schools. According to the Welsh Government, it “fully expects schools to be teaching RSE that is inclusive of LGBTQI”.
Advisers Yasmin Khan and Nazir Afzal have advised the Welsh Government that Welsh parents should not be able to prevent their children going to these lessons in future. This they say is important “because RE and RSE are very important in keeping children safe and helping them understand the world around them.”
This comes after a previous consultation brought unexpected and overwhelming opposition to compulsory sex education for 3 -16year olds which would include LGBTQI lessons. 87.5% of responses opposed the plans.
Despite the overwhelming opposition, government adviser Yasmin Khan said it should “absolutely be compulsory”. The Government added that it “fully expects schools to be teaching LGBTQI” by the start of the new curricilum in 2022 despite the glaring opposition to these plans. Ms Khan and her fellow Welsh government adviser Nazir Afzal also say parents should be involved early in preparing for the proposed curriculum changes to avoid protests as are being seen outside schools in England and elsewhere where parents have protested against programmes which teaches sex education including the teaching of LGBTQI issues.
Many oppose the teaching of any sex education especially in primary schools. And many make a point of adding that they are not against gay people or those questioning or struggling with their sexuality or gender in general – believing in compassion and understanding for those children. ‘Let kids be kids and decide what they want to do when they become adults’ seems to be the general mantra of those against enforced sex and LGBTQI education .
Groups such as Questioning LGBT Education describe how many parents in Britain are deeply concerned that LGBT in schools has turned into blatant indoctrination. See their video below:
Christian groups have also voiced their opposition to the government’s plans, saying children need to be taught to respect each other because they share a common humanity rather than being fractured by the obsessive focus on labels which they say underpins the LGBTQ and education programmes in general.
You can find out more about the Welsh government’s latest consultation online. It’s open for anyone to share their views until 28/11/19 and can be found here: https://gov.wales/ensuring-access-full-curriculum
Main photo: Rainbow paints at school/Pixabay
