Senegalese high school students during a bac test. Credit: DR
Senegalese teachers’ unions denounced, at the end of December, an attempt to introduce sexual education and reproductive health modules into school curricula for children from the age of 5. This information provoked the outrage of religious families and Islamic associations, forcing the head of state Macky Sall to intervene.
In Senegal, a controversy has erupted in recent days over the integration, in school education programs, of the principles of sexuality education and reproductive health for children aged 5 to 18, under the aegis of of Unesco.
The project entitled ” Promotion of girl-boy equality and sexual and reproductive health for in-school and out-of-school adolescents Is implemented in Togo and Senegal, supported the teachers’ unions who made this information public. This sparked an outcry from Sufi religious families and Islamic associations in this predominantly Muslim country.
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According to Dame Mbodj, secretary general, of the Unitary Union Framework for Middle and Secondary Teachers (Cusems-Authentique), the Ministry of National Education “organized on December 21, 22 and 23, 2020, in Saly, seaside resort, in the Thiès region [Ouest], a workshop on the review and analysis of the level of integration of education in sexual and reproductive health (Essr) within the framework of the Solidarity Fund for Innovative Projects (Fspi) ».
Shielding
Teachers’ unions, Islamic organizations and religious families immediately raised their voices to challenge the President of the Republic Macky Sall and his government. On January 1, a delegation from the Sufi Muslim Brotherhood of Khadr, considering that the introduction of such a program is “poles apart from our values and religions», Went to ask for the support of the leader of the Mourides, one of the most important Sufi brotherhoods in the country, to thwart such a project.
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Reassured by the Caliph General of the Mourides, Serigne Bassirou Mountakha Mbacké, Serigne Abdourahmane Kounta, spokesperson for the leader of the Khadr called for“Protection of our religions and our values ».
For the Islamic NGO Jamra, the meeting of December 21 in Saly was only “a subtle packaging to better make the Senegalese education system swallow the incongruous and suspicious pill of the 3rd gender ideology from kindergarten, that is to say for the attention of toddlers of 5 years old“. According to its vice-president, Mame Mactar Guèye, in February 2018, a first attempt, “like a weather balloon, Unesco to initiate new standards for comprehensive sex education”, Was launched.
For its part, the Islamic Rally of Senegal, another association, through a press release, sounded the alarm on this education project. According to its president, Pope Matar Kébé, these reforms aim “to create an outgoing school that is neither national », « neither democratic and popular ».
The President of the Republic calms the game
Faced with the outcry, the President of the Republic Macky Sall intervened to reassure national opinion. “We have our values and no one can tell us what to do. Neither Unesco let alone the United Nations can not force us to change the curricula in our schools. This debate is not on the agenda ”,he ruled, expressing his “surprise” that such a debate is posed. The Minister of Education, Mamadou Talla adds: “there is no change of curriculum, no module, no reform envisaged neither today nor tomorrow ».
Charles Senghor (in Dakar)
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