By Sahr Ibrahim Komba
A storm of public outrage is sweeping across Sierra Leone following the introduction of the “Adolescent Health and Life Skills” (ASHLS) curriculum into senior secondary schools a subject that critics argue dangerously undermines long-standing African cultural and moral values.
Promoted as a subject to equip adolescents with the knowledge and skills to make “informed sexual and reproductive decisions,” the ASHLS curriculum has been met with fierce resistance by traditional leaders, parents, and conservative educators who view it as a veiled attempt to normalize controversial topics that are deeply taboo in African societies.
The syllabus, backed by international organizations and rooted in a Western liberal ideology, includes teachings on homosexuality, transgender issues, gender fluidity, porography, and transactional sex all of which, critics say, are completely foreign and unacceptable to African moral sensibilities.
“This curriculum is not just about teaching hygiene and health it is an intentional campaign to erode our children’s values and replace them with dangerous, foreign beliefs,” said Chief Morlai Conteh, a traditional chief from Waterloo Sierra Leone. “We cannot allow our schools to become the frontlines of cultural colonization.”
The backlash has been particularly intense over lessons that introduce learners to various sexual identities including homosexual, bisexual, and asexual orientations. Though presented under the pretext of human rights and inclusion, many Sierra Leoneans are rejecting the move as a direct assault on religious teachings and traditional norms that define sexuality strictly within heterosexual, procreative marriage.
“It is morally wrong to teach our teenagers that being gay or bisexual is normal,” said Reverend Emmanuel Koroma. “This is not education. This is indoctrination. Our children are being taught to question the very fabric of our identity as Africans.”
Parents across the country are also calling for the curriculum’s immediate suspension, arguing that it strips them of the right to guide their children’s moral development.
“We send our children to school to learn math and science not to be confused about their gender or told that abortion and pornography are everyday issues,” said Aiah David Fangagbufu, a father of three. “This subject is grooming them to abandon the values we teach at home.”
While the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) defends the curriculum as a life-saving intervention especially in a country with high rates of teenage pregnancy and gender-based violence critics believe that its content is disproportionately influenced by donor agendas and lacks contextual sensitivity.
“What works in Europe or America may not work in Sierra Leone. We must develop solutions rooted in our own cultural framework,” argued Dr. Samuel Jalloh, a scholar in sociologist. “We need to address sexual health, yes, but without promoting foreign ideologies under the guise of rights and empowerment.”
As the debate rages, several civil society groups and traditional councils are demanding a thorough review of the ASHLS curriculum. Some are even calling for a national referendum to determine whether such a sensitive subject should be allowed in public education at all.
Until then, the rollout continues but so does the resistance.
“If we lose our culture, we lose our identity,” declared Chief Conteh. “We must not let our children become strangers in their own land.”
