Education Minister says he has been harrassed post the HFLE Manual withdrawal

It is difficult to confirm this one clearly but since the Minister of Education's dithering on the Home and Family Life, HFLE curriculum matter that had contained therein some questions that were deemed objectionable and maybe inappropriate for the age cohort intended, grades 7 - 9, so we can surmise 12 to 14 year olds depending on what age they successfully attained GSAT results etc. Erica Virtue of the Gleaner says the paper has confirmed from the horses mouth that he has been fact been receiving inappropriate emails and other correspondences on the matter.

The Minister on his feet in parliament justifying the withdrawal of the manual in October 2012.

In two previous posts (see linked below) while I have been disappointed and very critical of the minister's decision to seemingly capitulate to the religious right as he himself is a man of the cloth due to the questions that explore homosexuality, anal sex, HIV testing and disclosure and a problematic guided imagery exercise that asks the students in a controlled setting I might add (as I understand it) to imagine themselves gay and everyone else straight or hetersexual and the associated stigmas the student may feel in the reverse roles. 

Urgent need to discuss Sex & sexuality nationally part 1

Urgent need to discuss Sex & sexuality nationally part 2

In the absence of an 2012 online copy of the manual here are some of the questions as carried on TVJ when the story broke in November, the hard copies have been pulled from the trained teachers' hands. (no copyright infringement intended) Here is the 2009 version in case:

DOWNLOAD HERE

Here is the article by Miss Virtue:

Lifestyle Text Withdrawal Backlash - Calls And Letters, Attack Ministry, Minister

Erica Virtue, Senior Gleaner Writer

Jamaica's Education Ministry is taking a beating from local and international rights groups who are upset that it pulled the controversial health and family life education (HFLE) text issued to grades 7-9 students.

Education Minister Ronald Thwaites last week confirmed the attacks, but opted not to disclose the names of the groups and individuals leading them.

"We have been inundated by calls and letters because of the position the ministry took. Up to today (Wednesday), I received a broadside from a group of gay, lesbian and transsexual people in New Jersey in the United States, who wanted to know why I was in favour of hate crimes," Thwaites told The Sunday Gleaner.

According to Thwaites, the New Jersey group wanted to know when he could report to it the full information on non-discriminatory material available to all students in Jamaica.

"It has been surprising to me, because our position is that, in principle we support the instruction of children towards healthy, faithful heterosexual relations, with tolerance and with understanding and non-discrimination towards others who adopt a different and alternative lifestyle," the minister said.

According to Thwaites, the position taken by the ministry was consistent with the position taken by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

"But, apparently, there are many of those who want something much more than that and who feel that we must instruct children in all aspects of sexuality; homosexuality, heterosexuality at the earliest stages, without any caution or restraint, and we reject that," he said.

In September, the education ministry pulled the text after a parent pointed out the controversial content. Angry parents at the time demanded to know who approved the text even after it was withdrawn.

Approval questioned

The firestorm was ignited when it was discovered that the text, among other things, required grades seven to nine students to give responses to questions on their involvement in homosexual and heterosexual activity. Some stakeholders including parents and teachers questioned the process by which the Ministry of Education approved its teaching guides.

Thwaites accepted that officials at the ministry did not offer the rigid scrutiny the text should have undergone before it was signed off.

"We blinked," he admitted.

Faced with questions in Parliament from the opposition spokesperson on education, Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert, Thwaites argued that, "no minister of education of whatever political stripe would have knowingly allowed material as obnoxious as that contained in the HFLE curriculum to have been published, and it does appear that there were previous instances, and there were warnings, and it was a clear intention of some who have very clear predispositions regarding sexual conduct ... who got away on this one."

- erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com

ENDS

While I am strongly in support of some sort of sex and sexuality intervention at the high school level as I like others feel that the very reason we have so much homo-negativity and homophobia and patriarchal related challenges in society is because we have been taught reproductive health more so than S & S with a tolerant infused message. If this report by Miss Virtue is to be believed I cautiously used "harassment" in the eyes of the Minister is NOT my idea of engaging the official and to be fair to him he has met with JFLAG and other stakeholders prior to this uproar about the manual, he was present at the IDAHO conference in May where the J and other civil society groups were in attendance.

Yes we also appreciate the interventions (if you will) supporters overseas but they must be guided by the advocates on the ground, lest we forget in 2009 the Red Stripe Boycott in San Francisco and the attempted tourism boycott in Canada by what seemed to be over-exuberant friends without proper consultations and strategies, these high handed moves only serve to make the struggle extended or problematic as persons already resist the notion that Jamaica is one of the most homophobic places on earth (truth or not) thus the backlash at times towards homosexuality is actually the affront persons feel being supposedly castigated as homophobes. 

Just a word to the wise.

Peace and tolerance

H