Within ten business days, the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) must make transparent the decision made by President Rodrigo Chaves to eliminate the “Comprehensive Affection and Sexuality Study Program.” This follows an appeal for protection won by Andre Vásquez Rodríguez, representative of the organization Acceder.
The ruling, announced yesterday, establishes that the MEP must submit all technical studies, legal justification based on domestic legislation, the Constitution, and international human rights treaties, and all technical and legal documents that allowed for the elimination of the previous program and its replacement with a new curriculum.
MEP leaders are also required to submit the minutes of the discussion and the full names of the members of the Superior Council who participated in the discussion and approval.
The request for information seeks to clarify whether it was a technical decision, or whether there is no data to determine the impact the measure will have on the decrease or increase in pregnancies among girls and adolescents, among other reasons.
Who did it?
“When the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) decided to eliminate Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in public education (Programa de Afectividad y Sexualidad Integral), we at ACCEDER submitted a request for public information to receive a response on several issues, primarily regarding the technical criteria that motivated this decision. The MEP ignored this request, and therefore we filed an amparo appeal against it (…) The MEP not only eliminated Comprehensive Sexuality Education without taking into account technical criteria, but that when there were opposing opinions, he ignored them. But it also ignored its constitutional obligations to provide public information to those who requested it while exercising their rights, as in the case of ACCEDER,” the organization said in a statement.
The human rights of women and historically vulnerable groups, such as the LGBTI population, have been reversed thanks to the latest decisions of the Chavez administration in alliance with conservative groups associated with churches of various denominations.
The warning was issued at the time by independent feminists, women’s groups, and even former government officials such as Ricardo Sossa, who served as Commissioner for Social Inclusion from 2022 to 2024.
The elimination of the Comprehensive Affection and Sexuality Programs developed by the recent PLN and PAC governments, to be replaced by guidelines developed jointly by the government, the Catholic Church, the Evangelical Alliance, and other groups, is raising concerns among progressive actors.
Ricardo Sossa, the government’s Commissioner for Social Inclusion from 2022 to 2024, He described the government’s latest actions against historically vulnerable populations as “systematic discrimination by the president.”
Conservative Agenda
Surrounded by religious leaders of various faiths, President Chaves embraced the conservative agenda in late January. At a press conference at the Presidential Palace, Chaves questioned the sex education programs left behind by the recent PAC and PLN governments and the alleged advance of abortion. He also clarified that respect for life from conception and other issues will always be a priority.
The president pointed out that sex education programs promoted “sexual perversion in our classrooms, and that is unacceptable,” as they encouraged students to view pornography to identify the stigma and seek autoeroticism and self-pleasure, or masturbation.
“What governments and ministers of education did, starting with former Minister Leonardo Garnier, by bringing sexual perversion into our classrooms, is and was unacceptable. When the Minister of Education told me that sexual education guidelines require children between the ages of 2 and 14 to be taught self-stimulation or masturbation, my blood boiled,” Chaves said.
For Chaves, sexual education is part of the family, while schools provide training. In that sense, he clarified that the sexual education program will be transformed, but not eliminated.
The day against bullying for everyone
Furthermore, gender and name changes for students will be the responsibility of the Registry, not the MEP; at the same time, the day against discrimination against LGBT groups was eliminated, in favor of a day against bullying for everyone.
The plan was supported by representatives of the Catholic Episcopal Conference, the Evangelical Alliance Federation, the Islamic and Jewish communities, the Buddhist Association, the Baha’i Faith, the Costa Rican Bible Society, universities offering related programs, educational associations, and COLYPRO.
