Sex education at school, Valditara's recipe against the non-existent "gender ideology": courses with parental consent

Sex education in the Northern League style , or to put a stop to the phantom “ gender ideology ”, as claimed by the Northern League. This is what will be covered in schools according to the indications of the Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara , “father” of the text released by the Council of Ministers held on Wednesday.

A Council of Ministers that produced two measures: one on affective and sexual education in schools, the other against aggression towards teachers. A bill, that of Valditara, that will not be immediately in force: it will have to go through Parliament to be discussed, possibly modified and then approved by the Senate and the Chamber.

The foundation of “Valditarian” sexual education is that nothing can be brought into the classroom without the explicit and written consent of the parents . Valditara justifies the initiative by citing Article 30 of the Constitution: “Parents have the right and duty to educate their children. For any activity on sexuality, prior, written consent is required, with precise indication of materials, purposes and methods. In the absence of consent, the school must provide an alternative training,” explains the minister in a press conference.

Not only that. Parents will be given “ exhaustive prior information related to external subjects that participate , the external subjects involved, the teaching material that will be used, the purposes and methods of carrying out the proposed activities”. “We want to strengthen the educational pact with families. Transparency is our guiding principle”, Valditara commented again.

For nursery and primary schools, however, any thematic expansion on sexuality beyond what is already provided for in the ministerial programs will be prohibited . Sexuality therefore remains a taboo in Italian schools, with training courses practically absent in a large part of the country's school system.

On the other hand, it was unlikely to expect a change from the Meloni government, close to the most conservative circles of Catholicism , such as the Pro Vita associations, and already notoriously a spokesperson for the battle against the non-existent “gender ideology”. The only opening in these two years of the Meloni-led executive had been the approval of the +Europa amendment with the funding of 500 thousand euros to start programs of affective-sexual education in secondary schools: approved in Parliament and included in the budget law, that fund was then diverted by the government to “fertility education”, intended not for students but for teachers and to be carried out outside of schools.

From +Europa Riccardo Magi , signatory of that amendment then hijacked by the government, comes heavy criticism of the Valditara bill: "Minister Valditara's obsession with gender has gone to his head and today he has come to distort the very meaning of the proposal to establish hours of lessons dedicated to sexual and emotional relationships by imposing informed consent from parents, as if there were students who could be exempted from lessons that have the objective of promoting a sexuality that is aware and respectful of oneself and others".

Criticisms shared by the other oppositions. From the Democratic Party, the national head of School Irene Manzi accuses Valditara of "vulgar propaganda, yet another spot measure. The minister fans the flames of conflict with measures that try to hide the void in education. And he fuels conspiracy theories about education in affectivity , complicating the lives of those who are seriously trying to do work in schools that the government itself says is enormously needed".