By: Natasha Archary
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) is putting forward a plan for schools to be more inclusive with gender neutral bathrooms.
Draft guidelines will include removing gender-specific pronouns when referring to learners, and setting up unisex or gender neutral bathrooms.
Public comment on the guidelines will be open next year, but there have already been resistance to the proposal by a number of political parties who are against the idea.
Department spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga said the guidelines were developed in hopes of creating a safer environment for learners who have a different sexual orientation or identify as non-binary.
“There are so many learners who are dropping out of school because they are being bullied for their sexual identity and they feel unwanted.
The DBE wants to put measures in place to create a safe environment for learners of a different sexual orientation. We’re far from finalising this, we will need to consult with stakeholders.
The draft guidelines will be published for public comment in 2023.”
While the change may be welcomed by the LGBTQIA+ community, conservative political parties such as the Freedom Front Plus (FFP) and the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) are against the idea.
Member of the FFP, Dr Wynand Boshoff says giving children free reign to have and exercise a choice about everything comes at a cost to society.
The ACDP are also vehemently against the gender neutral bathrooms and say, “God created male and female. Down with unisex bathrooms.”
If passed, the guidelines propose that teachers do away with the terms, “boys and girls”, “he/she”, “him/her” and include non-binary or non-gender specific pronouns such as them, their or they when conducting lessons or addressing learners.
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