Congress will debate the bill proposing the incorporation of parents in the preparation of educational materials

This Thursday could be debated in the plenary session of the Congress of the Republic on Bill 904/2021-CR presented by Congressman Ezra Medina of Popular Renewal, a document that proposes the “Law that promotes the quality of educational materials and resources in Peru” which, if applied, would reduce the autonomy of the Ministry of Education (Minedu) over the rectory of educational texts.

According to Susana Chavez, director of Promsex, the initiative would be used to limit the right to quality education to thousands of students, by equipping a small group of parents with the rectory to censor educational materials. According to the text, this right will only be granted to some parents' organizations that have registration as an organization, such as the case of Con Mis Hijos No Te Metas, the organization that is against the education with a gender equality approach.

According to the director of Promsex, this bill poses different dangers for access to quality education, since the learning, themes and content of educational resources would not be technically determined by professionals specializing in education, but by parents. It also involves a serious risk to meet legal deadlines. Subjecting the three stages to a process of consultation and approval by parents will inevitably entail an extension in the schedules for the definition, development and distribution of educational materials.

PREVIOUSLY REJECTED

On February 15, 2022, the same bill was proposed for discussion in plenary, however, it did not get the votes required for its implementation. This was reported by the official newspaper El Peruano.

“Following the adoption in committee of Bill No. 904-2021-CR, which aims to empower parents to participate in the development and approval of educational materials and resources, in accordance with their religious convictions and beliefs. Likewise, punish personnel who authorize the distribution of educational materials and resources, the preparation of which parents did not have participated in the preparation and suspend the distribution of educational material, which does not have their consent (...)”, the official document reads.

The reasons why it was rejected according to the official document of the aforementioned newspaper are:

1. It weakens the Ministry of Education in its leading and technical role, for the elaboration, production and acquisition of educational materials and resources that are subject to pedagogical principles aligned with the Education Project by 2036, the Gender Equality Policy, Comprehensive Sex Education Guidelines for Basic Education, among others other policies that protect the human rights of children and adolescents.

2. It ignores the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Republic, on the inclusion of the gender focus in the National Curriculum of Basic Education; where it is resolved, to revoke the contested judgment and revoke it in all its extremes; under the consensus that the gender approach, is a right that the Constitution of Peru and international human rights treaties recognize;

3. It represents a substantial prejudice to Comprehensive Sexual Education, a right that seeks to enable the population to acquire knowledge about human sexuality in a planned manner, whether through education or health services.

It should be noted that in Peru there are alarming figures regarding pregnancy in girls and adolescents, according to Minsa, pregnancy among minors in urban areas is 6.9%, and the rural area is 12.4% in 2020.

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