End inappropriate sex education, PM told
MPS urge PM to launch inquiry into teaching of graphic content and disputed gender ideology
Rishi Sunak is facing a Tory revolt over the failure to impose age-appropriate sex education in schools. Almost 50 Tory MPS have written to the Prime Minister calling for an independent inquiry after evidence emerged of the widespread teaching of contentious gender ideology and graphic sexual content without parents’ knowledge. Mr Sunak vowed to end inappropriate sex education during his leadership campaign last year but no action has been taken.
RISHI SUNAK is facing a Tory revolt over the failure to end “age-inappropriate” sex education in schools.
Almost 50 Conservative MPS have written to the Prime Minister urging him to launch an independent inquiry after evidence emerged of the widespread teaching of contentious gender ideology and graphic sexual content without parents’ knowledge or consent.
Signatories of the letter, co-ordinated by Miriam Cates, include Priti Patel, the former home secretary, Simon Clarke, former levelling up secretary, and Andrea Jenkyns, Brendan Clarke-smith, Jonathan Gullis and Kelly Tolhurst –all former education ministers.
The Daily Telegraph disclosed last week that some 13-year-olds have been told there are 100 genders, while primary school children in some schools are being taught about masturbation. Some 12-year-olds have been asked what they “feel” about oral and anal sex.
MPS have told the Prime Minister that children are “being taught about extreme and dangerous sex acts [and] encouraged to share intimate details about sexual desires with classmates and teachers”.
The letter warns that “even primary school children are being indoctrinated with radical and unevidenced ideologies about sex and gender”.
It adds: “Many of the resources used would make adults deeply uncomfortable, especially if they were expected to view them in their place of work. It is unconscionable that our children are being forced to engage with such dis- turbing materials in school.”
Mr Sunak promised to end inappropriate sex education during his leadership campaign last year. However, no action has yet been taken.
Parents claim schools will not allow them to see teaching materials, citing copyright concerns. The Department for Education (DFE) has yet to write to schools reminding them of parents’ rights to see teaching materials, despite pledging to do so last summer.
An investigation led by Mrs Cates found that inappropriate teaching materials have proliferated since 2019, when the DFE issued relationships and sex education guidance, which failed to set a ceiling on what could be taught. The guidance, drawn up in consultation with Stonewall, the LGBT+ charity, specified that gender identity should be taught in “an age-appropriate and inclusive way”. The guidance opened the door for activist groups to offer teaching materials and workshops to schools.
Ms Patel said: “It’s shocking to see what’s being taught to some children in our schools, and concerning that parents are being ignored. Relationship and sex education must be delivered in a way that’s sensitive to the views of parents and age and experiences of young people.”
The DE has said that “schools must make sure all content they use is factual and age-appropriate, and engage with parents so they are aware of what their children are being taught”. It said it will write to schools about showing parents’ teaching materials this term.
Sex education in schools has always been a difficult issue. Most parents have been happy to pass over responsibility for explaining such matters to their offspring to teachers operating within a carefully constructed and sensitively presented curriculum. But a Telegraph investigation has found that classes in some schools are going far beyond anything parents are comfortable with and doing so almost without constraint.
Now, more than 40 Conservative MPS have written to Rishi Sunak calling for an urgent, independent review into sex education, though concern is not confined to Tories. This has become particularly acute amid the controversy surrounding gender and the way young children are being invited to question their own. Miriam Cates, MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, said children were being taught about extreme and dangerous sex acts, encouraged to share intimate details about desires with classmates and teachers, and “indoctrinated with radical and unevidenced ideologies about sex and gender”.
She added: “It is unconscionable that our children are being forced to engage with such disturbing materials in school.”
Indeed it is. Who gave schools, acting in loco parentis, permission to push the boundaries in this way? Is this another triumph for the Stonewall pressure group, which apparently seeks to break down sexual barriers whatever the damage caused to children?
There is supposed to be a national curriculum, so the question that needs to be asked is whether it is being followed in this instance and, if not, why not? If it is then it needs to be changed forthwith.