Axe new gender learning, schools minister is urged

THE newly-appointed schools minister has been urged to scrap ‘harmful’ rules he previously drew up on sex education lessons.

As Education Secretary in 2019, Damian Hinds signed off on controversial guidance stating secondary pupils should learn about ‘sexual orientation and gender identity’.

The regulations, which said ‘young people may be discovering or understanding their sexual orientation or gender identity’, insisted pupils should be taught in an ‘ageappropriate and inclusive way’.

But the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) framework has been blamed for paving the way for schools to expose children to sexually explicit material or teach them that there are 100 genders.

Rishi Sunak ordered an urgent review in March. But now the Prime Minister has put Mr Hinds back in the Department for Education as schools minister, raising fears over the outcome of the review. One Government source said last night: ‘Hearing lots of concerns that Damian Hinds is back in DfE.’

Tory MP Nick Fletcher, who sits on the education select committee, said ‘RSHE teaching, with its promotion of gender ideology and pseudoscience to school children... has directly harmed thousands of children’. He added: ‘I look forward to Damian getting a grip on this issue fast and restoring science and common sense to the school curriculum.’

Tanya Carter, of the Safe Schools Alliance, said she hoped Mr Hinds will ‘acknowledge the harms that he has inadvertently been a part of and work to correct them’. She added: ‘Anyone without a thorough understanding of safeguarding is unsuitable to be schools minister.’