It was planned that way!

“In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way,” Franklin D Roosevelt had said so and this is fully apt for the present situation in Ontario that seems to be frozen in time. Premier Doug Ford as the leader of the Progressive Party campaigned on a promise to change the curriculum for sex-education and Ontarians voted him to power. Did they really ask him what he intends to change? Did Doug Ford as a leader aspiring to bring a change in Ontario explain what his plans are for the same?

Thanks to the new premier, Ontarians are now have to remain content with the declaration made by him. He declared that Canada’s biggest province would revert –until further notice – to a curriculum first written in late 1990s. What Premier Doug Ford has announced has its roots to some of the efforts put forth by his predecessor Patrick Brown, who owed his 2015 PC leadership victory to socially conservative members who were more comfortable with the anti-sex-education agenda. When Doug Ford had to contest the PC party leadership, it was natural for him to toe the line that a majority of members wanted and was so well envisaged by the policy document prepared by his predecessor. This declaration by him seems to be an act to repay his political debt without realizing the consequences that it would have on the people, parents and the young kids of the province. This was planned to happen this way and didn’t happen by accident!

In the earlier case, parents who opposed a modern sex-education curriculum always had a right to withdraw their children from any lessons. However, some of them weren’t even comfortable with the same and wanted to impose their own narrow view on everyone and found a favorable attention in PC party, who were looking for one such promise that could tilt the scales in its favor. And today, Ontario is witnessing a situation where a majority of students and their parents are being deprived on a modern curriculum that is behest of the needs of the modern times. Hence, Ontarians today are at a situation where those who could have chosen  the “personal opt out” are now steering at a “provincial black out”.

Doug Ford’s government has officially put in a cold storage a sex-education curriculum that taught students tolerating difference, defending against bullying, importance of consent among lot of other issues including the names of the body parts and prepared students to safeguard themselves by empowering them to speak with greater precision with the authorities if need be.

Having lost a good ground and now facing backlash from parents who are progressive in nature and want their kids to be well aware of the modern sex education curriculum, Doug Ford government now has gone into a damage control mode.  Education Minister Lisa Thompson, who proudly announced last week that the new curriculum had been suspended, had to come out to and had lot of explaining to do.  She put the onus on the protesting parent as an escape route while she said that people were jumping to conclusions-about “ what in and what’s out”. The clarification came in the form of “We are reverting to the curriculum that was last taught in 2014. This curriculum leaves ample space to discuss current social issues.” This statement is indeed quiet different from the earlier declaration made by the Premier Doug Ford. The flip flop by the government shows that the declaration was made more to fulfill an electoral promise without doing enough homework and without taking a note of the requirements of the society. Such discrepancy in statements by the Premier and by the Education Minister gives a mixed messages to the various stakeholders that include teachers, students and parents.

The new curriculum is destined to remain suspended while the government carries out as stated by the Education Minister consultations with parents.  The progressive government planned it that way! Had they been really serious about the issue, the parental consultations could have been carried out earlier and the declaration could have come later –may be six months down the line.