New Zealand is to scrap ‘woke’ sex education in schools after the election of its new right leaning government led by Prime Minister Chris Luxon.
The government has reportedly vowed to “refocus the curriculum on academic achievement and not ideology, including the removal and replacement of the gender, sexuality, and relationship-based education guidelines”
During his first parliamentary address, Luxon slammed what he called the “startling” and “absolutely shameful” legacy of the previous Labor government on education saying as many as 40% of children were “not attending school regularly”.
He said Kiwi students’ OECD PISA test results were the “worst they’ve ever been” saying this was down to “Labor’s legacy on education” which he said was “all talk” and “no outcomes”.
SBS News reported that Luxon had emphasised the import role parents and schools play in RSE programs saying, “All that has been raised with us over the course of the last year has been by parents about some of the sexuality training,”
The Prime Minister said he wanted a “a well-defined (sex ed) curriculum, agreed to by experts, that actually makes sure that the content is age-appropriate, that parents have been consulted and importantly that parents also have an ability to withdraw”.
Speaking about how RSE programs have been initiated in schools he said, “It’s been very variable even within schools and between schools because the guidelines have been just that – guidelines – that have been variously interpreted.”
Critics of Luxon’s government’s moves to reform sex education have said that children need more and not less guidance on relationships and sexuality.
The managing director of LGBTQ charity group InsideOUT Tabby Besley said, “If young people aren’t getting that in schools, they’re gonna be getting it from their peers and from the internet where parents don’t have control of what they engage with,” she said