MMF CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION ECE TOOLKIT
Do you stand with MMF in opposing the introduction of transgender ideology into the education system through the Department of Basic Education’s “ECE Toolkit”? Our initiative seeks to protect Islamic values and uphold parental rights in guiding the moral and educational journey of our children. Have Your Say!
BACKGROUND
On December 5, 2023, MMF, part of a coalition representing over 20 million people from Christian, Muslim, and African spirituality faiths, met with the Department of Basic Education (DBE). The DBE received a 36-page "Comprehensive Position Statement" from our coalition, expressing substantial and united concerns regarding the Social Inclusion Unit’s development of the ECE Toolkit. This teacher-training program focuses on teaching pedagogy aimed at indoctrinating children with transgender ideology. The ECE Toolkit is designed to foster a culture in pre-primary and primary schools (for children aged 0 to 9 years) that is in conflict with the sexual and gender norms and values that we, as Muslim parents and many other religious families, wish to impart to our children and have the legal right to pass onto their children. The ECE Toolkit was funded by a R40 million donation from a Belgian organisation called VVOB, that “firmly believes that quality education can only be achieved if equity, and gender equity in particular, is ensured.” The DBE regards the ECE Toolkit as primarily an internal teacher-training initiative, leading to the crucial question: who will these trained teachers be educating? Evidently, it will be our children! This is not a subject from which we can opt out or for which we can push an opt-out clause. This is teaching pedagogy meaning it will be integrated into every aspect of learning, making it pervasive. Note: It is crucial to be aware that this teacher-training program has been launched and is currently in use in at least five provinces. Have Your Say!
LEGAL FRAMEWORK
The DBE’s White Paper on Education policy document expressly recognises parents’ “right to be consulted by the state authorities” and their “inalienable right to choose the form of education which is best for their children, particularly in the early years of schooling”.We believe that the ideological content in the ECE Toolkit is based on information that is deeply controversial, scientifically unproven, and medically contentious, amounting to its own form of ideology, if not a religion, which contradicts Islamic teachings.
We strongly disagree with teaching young children about sex and gender at a life stage when they lack the developmental capacity to accurately understand this information. We consider this to be a form of age-inappropriate sexual awakening and ideological indoctrination that is detrimental to children. As parents, we are committed to educating our own children on these matters, guided by our moral and religious principles grounded in the Quran and Hadith. Have Your Say!
EVIDENCE OF IDEOLOGICAL BIAS AND SUBVERSION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS
We present some examples from the ECE Toolkit training that illustrate how it propagates an ideology, and in essence, forms a religion of its own, clearly conflicting with our beliefs as Muslims. These extracts from the training material will make it evident to our readers how deeply this indoctrination runs:-
The goal of this training is to “help them [little children] break free from harmful gender stereotypes
that hold them back in life”. (page 9)
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Children should have “access to toilet facilities that correspond with their gender identity…
Teachers should work with children to address the discomfort and foster understanding of gender
diversity.” (page 17)
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Teachers are trained to “[ask] learners from a young age for their preferred name and pronoun…
[to] make room for children who may be exploring their gender identity and demonstrate that
gender identity should not be assumed”. (page 39)
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Teachers are told to use “they” and “them” because this “lets children know that we cannot assume
someone’s gender identity just by looking at them.” (page 39)
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“Many families and communities hold to prevailing harmful gender roles and boundaries.” (page 47)
OUR DEMANDS
We presented DBE with the following demands:An immediate moratorium on the scheduled 2024 rollout of the ECE Toolkit for teacher training and implementation, as well as any other initiatives, forms of education, or indoctrination of a similar nature for which broad-based consultation has not yet taken place.
All policies and guidelines published by the DBE must undergo public scrutiny before being issued, including input from teachers' unions, school governing bodies, and theological bodies that represent the best interests of children and their constituencies.
The establishment of a Family Values Unit within the DBE as a catalyst for meaningful dialogue between the DBE and various community groups to ensure that educational content and policies embrace the diversity of South African society without inadvertently favouring one worldview over others. Have Your Say!
THE DBE’S RESPONSE
In a meeting on March 8, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) outright dismissed the concerns and suggestions put forward by our faith-based coalition, sidestepping our main points and misrepresenting our arguments. They claimed that ample public consultation had already occurred, a process we have yet to witness. They state that they are “committed to supplementing the family values with constitutional literacy.” This is a notion we find alarming.The DBE justified the ECE Toolkit’s aim to encourage young children to challenge social and gender norms, asserting it's vital for combatting gender-based violence (GBV). However, this connection seems tenuous and misdirected, as the discussion was not linked to GBV, raising concerns about their approach to addressing such serious issues. They claim that “children are socialised to accept social norms that fuel GBV”.
Additionally, the DBE rejected our call for establishing a Family Values Unit within the department, arguing instead that the ECE Toolkit is crucial for addressing the cultural teachings that hold children back.
The DBE argue that the ECE Toolkit intervention is necessary because “all children find themselves in unequal power relations that hold them back from exploring and developing their potential”.
They firmly stated their intention to proceed with ECE initiative, emphasizing its “necessity” for addressing gender inequality, discrimination, and school-related GBV. The emphatic use of "WILL" in their declaration came across as dismissive of our perspective.
Have Your Say!