{"id":154168,"date":"2026-01-15T18:07:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T01:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=154168"},"modified":"2026-01-15T18:07:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T01:07:38","slug":"new-zealand-govt-stops-sexuality-education-sri-lankas-govt-wants-to-start-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/01\/15\/new-zealand-govt-stops-sexuality-education-sri-lankas-govt-wants-to-start-it\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand Govt stops sexuality education \u2013 Sri Lanka\u2019s Govt wants to start it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n
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In 2025, the New Zealand Ministry of Education removed the Relationships & Sexuality Education (RSE) guidelines from the curriculum framework. It took just 5 years to realize the damage. In 2020, schools were taught about relationships, gender, sexuality, consent, online media from years 0 to 13. RSE was New Zealand\u2019s term for Global CSE (following UN ITGSE pro-gender\/woke curriculum). When New Zealands govt says the 2020 framework will be replaced with a new clearer curriculum framework\u201d it indicates that the 2020-2025 was problematic. When the Govt says the new framework will decide \u2018what should be taught at each age\u201d it indicates that the 2020-2025 curriculum did not.  While New Zealand steps back to reassess, Sri Lanka\u2019s government is moving forward aggressively \u2014 embracing the very same gender- and sexuality-driven educational reforms that another country has already abandoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This contradiction demands public attention.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More importantly, why did New Zealand remove the 2020 guidelines?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.<\/strong>    refocusing on academic achievement not ideology\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

o   New Zealand wants to focus more on traditional academic subjects & less on ideology especially related to gender & sexuality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

o   THE SRI LANKAN GOVT IS MOVING AWAY FROM ACADEMIC SUBJECTS TO EMBRACE GENDER & SEXUALITY.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.<\/strong>    Gender identity topics not age-appropriate for students\u201d –<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. SRI LANKA\u2019S EDUCATIONAL REFORMS REVOLVE AROUND IMPLEMENTING NOT ONLY GENDER IDEOLOGY BUT DIGITALIZATION WHICH EVEN WESTERN COUNTRIES NOW ACKNOWLEDGE IS DAMAGING TO THE CHILD.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    What did New Zealands\u2019s 2020 RSE guidelines actually focus on? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00b7      Gender diversity, consent & inclusivity<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00b7      Navigating pornography<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    New Zealand\u2019s reversal is not a victory for conservatism, religion, or politics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It is a victory for common sense, child development, and parental responsibility<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A government does not remove national education guidelines unless the consequences are serious. New Zealand removed its 2020 sexuality education framework because it blurred age boundaries, replaced academic focus with ideology, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    and failed to protect children\u2019s cognitive and emotional development. Parents spoke. Society pushed back. The government listened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sri Lanka must ask itself a hard question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n


    Why are we rushing to implement an education model that even Western nations are now retreating from?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At a time when global evidence increasingly acknowledges:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00b7      the harm of early sexualisation,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00b7      the damage caused by excessive digital exposure, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u00b7      the confusion created by premature gender ideology,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sri Lanka is being told that academics insist\u201d these reforms are necessary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The same justification was used in New Zealand. It collapsed under public scrutiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Education is not a social experiment. Children are not ideological test subjects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If New Zealand needed only five years to recognise the damage and step back, Sri Lanka has no excuse to ignore that warning<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    True progress lies not in copying failed global models, but in protecting children, respecting parents, and prioritising real education over ideology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Pause. Review. Protect our children \u2014 before the damage is done.<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    https:\/\/www.sbs.com.au\/news\/article\/new-zealand-to-axe-sex-ed-guidelines-in-schools-after-woke-extremism-campaign\/tzgrirs32<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Shenali D Waduge In 2025, the New Zealand Ministry of Education removed the Relationships & Sexuality Education (RSE) guidelines from the curriculum framework. It took just 5 years to realize the damage. In 2020, schools were taught about relationships, gender, sexuality, consent, online media from years 0 to 13. RSE was New Zealand\u2019s term for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shenali-waduge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154169,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154168\/revisions\/154169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}