A spokesman for Ghana’s Education Ministry has told the Accra Mail he is confident a programme in which teachers warn students of the “adverse consequences” of being gay will make it “a thing of the past”.
Paul Krampah, a Public Relations Officer, said his department’s HIV/AIDS Secretariat had been training teachers to educate students on the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
The Mail says calls had been made to better equip students with knowledge about the health risks involved in a sexually active lifestyle.
Mr Krampah’s statement appears to imply that by outlining the risks of sexual activity, the programme will stop young people being gay.
He said: “We are very optimistic that things will change and the incidence of homosexuality in the country will be a thing of the past.”
LGBT Asylum News points out that the Deputy Director General of the country’s Education Service said in an interview this year that homosexuality “started with single-sex schools”.
He added: “It has become prevalent and so more people have become aware of it. This is just one of the many problems we have in our educational system.”
This summer, a minister in Ghana reportedly ordered the arrest of all gays and lesbians in the country’s Western Region.
Paul Evans Aidoo also called on landlords and tenants to inform on those they believe to be gay.
According to Ghanaian news reports, he said: “All efforts are being made to get rid of these people in the society.”
In November, the country’s president, John Atta Mills, said he would “never support” the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the country, following the UK Government’s announcement on the redirection of aid.
by Stephen Gray – PinkNews
