I decided to watch this one most carefully and listen to the contending views on this since the story first broke on Beyond The Headlines hosted by Dionne Jackson Miller on radio Jamaica, RJR on September 13 on the controversial Home Family Life Education Curriculum HFLE before I made a post on it, the curriculum that was first put together from as early as 2006 under the previous administration with training for teachers as late as this July of this year and is funded by overseas funders, Miss Jackson had two guidance counselors as guests who gave their opinions on the controversy which surrounded the questions on HIV status, anal sex and other issues supposedly targeted for seventh graders or 13 and 14 year olds. Only a small section of the over 350 page voluminous document (not online at this time) dealt with the subject matter that was deemed offensive however how the discourse has progressed over the passed days it would look like its the entire document that is problematic, the document also propose to have dealt with Sexual orientation, respect for persons regarding sexual orientation, self awareness, HIV and safer sex introduction, self efficacious planning, risk assessment etc some other pointers were that there maybe gay participants so teachers were reminded to choose their language carefully, one scenario supposedly was to ask students to imagine a world where it is normal to be gay and to be straight would be the other orientation and what would the world be in eyes of the students. Students would be asked to also research homosexuality, bisexuality and womanizing in Jamaica. There was some cloudiness as to how the guidelines should be disseminated in the classroom if via oral presentation or by written format.

One of the guests then on Beyond The Headlines was the Public Relations Officer for the Jamaica Association of Guidance Counselors and counselor at St Hilda's Kenasi Davis and a male guidance counselor from UTECH, The PRO from JAGC was at length to explain the curriculum was about life skills and who are students as a sexual being and the images they portray. She went on to say parents, board chairman and others have been trained over time but it was not cleared whether teachers facilitation of guidance counselors were to execute the manual's guidelines or the guidance counselors only, a fault that would later be addressed by clinical sexologist Dr. Karen Carpenter in the days that followed on various media outlets, let us also not forget this is coming in same breath as the attitudes towards homosexuality study funded by AIDSFREEWORLD and JFLAG which said 78% of Jamaicans are against repealing buggery and also the parenting policy to be formalized shortly. Also on the weekend September 15 was a "Love March" calling for the maintenance of the buggery law.

This was the first in a long time I have seen an issue LGBT related that got such coverage it was hard to keep up but here are some avenues below for us to review:

Here is the TVJ poll results on the night the story broke

Poll on teaching tolerance in Jamaican schools - 85% says no 15% says yes

Other discussions seem to want to impute motives of the gay lobby words such as "Conditioning" and "Orienting" by the Minister of Education whilst at the same time using tolerance, remember this is the same Reverend gentleman who was at the IDAHO event by JFLAG on May 17th professing inclusiveness as it were:

What was also shocking was the revelation by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education where she said on September 17th during nationwide's morning show with host Emily Crooks that the deputy and chief education officers never saw or reviewed or approved the curriculum before its release which has further made speculation high as to the motive of the sections in the manual and subsequent books that are aligned to the document.

Contentious Questions

Among the questions posed to students were: Have you ever had sexual intercourse? Have you ever had anal sex without a condom? What caused you to be a heterosexual? When and how did you first discover you were heterosexual? If you have never slept with a member of your own sex, is it possible you might be gay if you tried it? Why do heterosexuals seduce others into their lifestyle?

The book also instructed students to perform a number of exercises to better understand their sexuality.

Thwaites had noted that the content of the segment on Sexuality and Sexual Health of the curriculum, which was revised over a two-year period 2009-2011 and distributed to schools last September, was first brought to his attention on Thursday.

"Frankly, I think there is some hidden agenda at work that's why they are targeting that age group, and if we don't put our foot down and stand for what we know is right, we're going to lose our children to slackness," Michael Watt, a father of three, noted.

In his statement, Thwaites said, "The family life values espoused by the Ministry of Education are those based on the Christian principles of sexual morality as well as compassion and tolerance for all persons."
Here is the Minister of Education's statement:

I HAVE BEEN MADE AWARE OF WIDESPREAD PUBLIC CONCERN ABOUT CERTAIN SECTIONS OF THE HEALTH AND FAMILY LIFE EDUCATION PROGRAMME (HFLE), CURRICULUM USED IN JAMAICAN SCHOOLS. THERE IS STRONG OBJECTION TO SOME OF THE QUESTIONS ON SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR AND THE COMMENTARY ON HETEROSEXUALITY/HOMOSEXUALITY.
THE PUBLIC SHOULD NOTE:
- THE CURRICULUM WAS REVISED OVER A TWO (2) YEAR PERIOD 2009-2011 AND DISTRIBUTED TO SCHOOLS LAST SEPTEMBER
- THE CONTENT OF THE THEME ON SEXUALITY & SEXUAL HEALTH WAS BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION FOR THE FIRST TIME YESTERDAY (SEPTEMBER 13).
- I CONSIDER SECTIONS OF THE MATERIAL INAPPROPRIATE FOR ANY AGE AND CERTAINLY FOR THE GRADE 7 & 8 STUDENTS FOR WHICH IT IS DESIGNED.
- I HAVE INSTRUCTED THAT THE MATERIAL BE WITHDRAWN FROM ALL SCHOOLS AND REWRITTEN THEN REDISTRIBUTED SO AS TO PREVENT DISRUPTION OF THE HEALTH & FAMILY LIFE EDUCATION INSTRUCTION.
THE FAMILY LIFE VALUES ESPOUSED BY THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION ARE THOSE BASED ON THE CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES OF SEXUAL MORALITY AS WELL AS COMPASSION AND TOLERANCE FOR ALL PERSONS.
THE HEALTH & FAMILY LIFE CURRICULUM WAS DEVELOPED FOR CARIBBEAN SCHOOLS UNDER THE AUSPICES OF UNICEF, UNFPA, NATIONAL HIV PROGRAMME, NATIONAL FAMILY PLANNING BOARD, MINISTRY OF HEALTH, DISPUTE RESOLUTION FOUNDATION AND THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON DRUG ABUSE.

more materials for review:

As mentioned Dr Karen Carpenter Jamaica's leading board certified Clinical Sexologist sought to bring some clarity to the issue

Here is more anti gay rhetoric in light of the curriculum controversy on NEWSTALK's Evening Edition plus my two cents rolled into one.

Clearly after all this bru ha ha it is clear in my eyes that we must address sex and sexuality and not just sexual reproduction as it taught in schools as guidance counseling and also in the church on a whole, we cannot continue to bury our heads in the sand and not address sexual orientation, pycho social, psycho sexual and initiation in youngsters, the old methods will simply not work with this generation as the experts including Dr Karen Carpenter has brought to bear in this important discussion, it is the failure of the education system overall for generations that lead to ignoramus reactions like this to a simple small section of a larger curriculum which for the most part is non problematic. I will agree the questions causing the problems may not have been age appropriate for the 14 year olds it may have been more in line with persons over the age of consent, 16 year olds but what about those under that age who are already sexually active?

I also think the Minister of Education is conflicted this time around as a Reverend and Minister in one, what about the separation of church and state, theocracy? is he trying to pander to the religious movement by virtue of him being a man of the cloth and yet he has been held accountable for espousing tolerance.

Much to consider.

UPDATE 25/09/12

Teachers' Association wants clarification on HFLE curriculum