Students in Ontario will be taught the old sex education curriculum — which pre-dates same-sex marriage, Google and social media — when they go back to school in September, says Education Minister Lisa Thompson.Following on Premier Doug Ford’s election promise to scrap the updated lesson plans introduced in 2015, Thompson said Wednesday the Progressive Conservative government will soon begin deciding how to revamp them in conjunction with parents. “The sex-ed component is going to be reverted back to the manner in which it was prior to the changes that were introduced by the Liberal government,” she told reporters.The old curriculum dates to 1998 while the modernized lesson plan, opposed by social conservatives, covers areas such as same-sex relationships, gender identity, cyberbullying, and the dangers of sexting.“We’re going to be moving very swiftly with our consultations and I will be sharing with your our process in the weeks to come,” said Thompson.“We`re going to be working on a fulsome consultation respecting parents and moving forward as the plan unfolds.”NDP Leader Andrea Horwath warned that the Conservatives are making a mistake, with children paying the price.“Going backwards in terms of keeping our kids safe and giving them the information they need to stay safe is not the right direction,” she said.“We worked hard to make sure that everyone in Ontario feels that they are respected, that they are able to be who they are, able to have opportunity, able to be free of violence and hate. And anything that starts to erode people’s ability to be themselves and be respected in this province is problematic.”The previous Liberal government updated the curriculum three years ago with an eye toward keeping children safe from abuse by educating them.Proper names for body parts and genitals are taught in Grade 1, which is a change child-abuse investigators had long urged. T ...
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