Civil Society Organisations on Tuesday faulted the directive by education minister Adamu Adamu to the National Educational Research Development Council (NERDC) to remove sex education from the school curriculum.

The executive director of education as a Vaccine, Toyin Chukwudozie, on behalf of 53 organisations, in a statement disagreed with the directive.

Mr Adamu, at the 66th Ministerial Session of the National Council on Education (NCE), had given the directive to expunge sex education from the curriculum.

The minister argued that sex education should be left in the hands of parents and religious institutions and not be taught in schools in a manner that would further corrupt little children who have access to phones and technologies.

But Ms Chukwudozie said the curriculum provided support and guidance for adolescents and young people.

According to her, the FLHE curriculum is a planned process of education that fosters the acquisition of factual information, the formation of positive attitudes, beliefs and values, and the development of skills.

She said this would help them cope with the biological, psychological, sociocultural and spiritual aspects of human living and that the curriculum aimed to provide information and skills necessary for young people to make rational decisions about their bodies.

Ms Chukwudozie added that the curriculum was not against any religious or cultural groups or teachings in the country.

She recalled that in June 2022, the minister signed the Freetown Manifesto on Gender Transformative Leadership in Education on behalf of the government, committing to supporting strategies to address harmful gender norms in pedagogy.

According to her, the FLHE is one strategy the ministry of education has employed to achieve this.

(NAN)