The Department of Basic Education has published on its website the Scripted Lessons Plans being used in the pilot phase of a Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) module.
In response to public anxiety about CSE, the department emphasised that it ‘is not Sex Education, does not teach learners how to have sex, does not sexualize children, and does not focus on only the physical relationships between humans, nor does it teach behaviour and values that encourage sex’.
The pilot phase of CSE has been introduced in selected schools in five provinces.
The department said the pilot project was being conducted ‘in areas that have recorded high HIV infection rates and prevalence of sexual abuse’.
It said in a statement that research findings indicating high birth rates among adolescents and teenagers, and the fact that ‘more than a third of girls and boys (35.4%) experience sexual violence before the age of 17’, had ‘necessitated the great need for … age-appropriate child-abuse prevention education that builds resilience, confidence and assertion amongst young people, who often do not know when they are being violated by sexual predators’.
The department pointed out that no new content had been added to Life Orientation classes, and that CSE had been part of the curriculum since 2000.
‘The only change is that in 2015 (the department) developed Scripted Lesson Plans, which are currently being tested in five provinces in order to strengthen the teaching of CSE in schools.’
The department said it was ‘extremely concerned that there seems to be lower sexual debut and increasing risky sexual behaviour amongst adolescents, and HIV prevention knowledge has declined amongst learners. Early sexual debut leads to mental health issues such as depression, vulnerability to violence and poor educational outcomes.’
It remained ‘open to further consultation and engagement on this matter’.