Lima, Peru, Dec 1, 2017 / 00:00 am
The Peruvian government will withdraw a 2016 national school curriculum that has been widely criticized for its "gender ideology."
In a Nov. 24 statement, Peru's Department of Education announced that a 2009 version of the National Curriculum will be reimplemented in Peruvian schools. The former curriculum does not include the gender ideology concepts addressed in the 2016 version.
The announcement was celebrated as a "new victory for parents" by a group using the hashtag #ConMisHijosNoTeMetas, which translates as "don't you mess with my children." In March 2017, the group organized marches in Peru, drawing more than 1.5 million people to demonstrate against a progressive gender ideology.
The 2017 National Curriculum for Basic Education was approved by the Department of Education in late 2016, despite criticism from parents, teachers, the Catholic Church, and several Christian groups in the country.
The Peruvian bishops' conference had criticized the Department of Education for including in the new curriculum "concepts which do not proceed from the Constitution, but rather are taken from so-called gender ideology."
"Pope Francis has warned that gender ideology denies the difference and the natural reciprocity of man and woman," the bishops stated.
In August, Peru's Superior Court of Justice ruled in favor of a lawsuit filed against the Department of Education, arguing that the curriculum was an attempt to indoctrinate schoolchildren.
In a statement to ACI Prensa, Sergio Burga, a researcher with the Population Research Institute's Latin American office, described the measure taken by the Department of Education as "a great victory for the thousands of parents represented by #ConMisHijosNoTeMetas."
Burga said that by removing the 2016 curriculum from schools, "pernicious expressions have been eliminated, such as 'construct your identity,' 'gender identity' and even 'what is masculine or feminine is constructed day-by-day.'"
Burga said that although it was less offensive to parents' groups, some similar concerns have been raised about the earlier curriculum, which will now be reviewed by advocates and parents.
For Burga "the fight" in the defense of the family "goes on."
This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.