Incensed at a new sex education curriculum they say will be too graphic for young sensibilities, parents of thousands of GTA elementary students kept their children home from school Monday in protest, with a thousand taking placards and chants of “We Say No!” to Premier Kathleen Wynne’s riding office.

In Toronto, almost 35,000 students were absent, a leap of 144 per cent over the previous Monday. In York Region some 2,000 elementary students stayed home, including 70 per cent of students at Teston Village Public School and 40 per cent at Markham Gateway Public School. In Peel Region, 1,170 students stayed home, with some schools missing up to 250 students.

Hardest hit was Toronto’s Thorncliffe Park Public School, where only about 130 children showed up of the usual 1,350 — roughly 90 per cent staying away. At the all-kindergarten school next door, only 90 children showed up of 600, even though the updated health curriculum doesn’t kick in until Grade 1. At nearby Valley Park Middle School, some 590 students were absent out of 950.

“In Grade 1, they should be learning about the ABCs, not sex,” said Thorncliffe Park parent Lubna Awah, who kept her kindergarten son home. “Boys are boys and girls are girls — why should they learn about a third (gender) in Grade 1?” asked Awah, expressing fears the new curriculum will encourage young children to question their gender identity.

In fact, discussion of gender identity is mandatory only in Grade 8, when students learn about factors that help people of all orientations “develop a positive self-concept.”

Awah and others said they learned about the new curriculum through a flyer circulated by what she called a “Chinese Christian group,” noting the school did not provide details. Some parents seemed misinformed about what will be taught, fearing students will be given crash courses in activities from masturbation to anal sex.

Yet the new curriculum has been endorsed by a coalition of doctors, educators and mental health experts as long overdue in an age of sexting, easy access to online pornography and a falling age of puberty. For the first time there will be class discussions on how to make sure someone actually is consenting to sexual activity.

Not all parents in the Muslim community oppose the curriculum. When Trustee Gerri Gershon recently offered to have a public health nurse train 20 Thorncliffe Park mothers in the curriculum so they can then educate other parents in their own language, 25 volunteered.

At nearby Gateway Public School, where half the students stayed home Monday, school council chair Nazerah Shaikh has a master’s degree in public health and worked for the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Ga.

She describes herself as a “conservative Muslim; I wear a hijab,” yet she sent her 10-year-old daughter to school Monday.

“There’s more that I agree with than disagree with in the new curriculum,” said Shaikh. “When I read the parts that deal with sexting and relationships and consent, I knew it was important. Today’s kids are two steps ahead when it comes to accessing information online,” said Shaikh. “For a $30 data plan, they can go to porn websites on their smartphones.”

She does have concerns about the curriculum’s focus on naming body parts in Grade 1 and later discussions of “gender fluidity.” Yet Shaikh, who has read the whole curriculum, does not support a boycott.

“Sending your child to school today does not mean you support the new curriculum or you don’t have valid concerns,” she wrote on Facebook in a statement meant to help parents who told her they were struggling with pressure from neighbors to join the boycott.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“Sending your child to school means you value your child’s fundamental right to an education and you will not use your child as a political tool.”

Curriculum advocates also say it underlines that in Canada all types of families are treated equally, including those with same-sex parents — but this, too, has drawn fire from some whose faith does not condone homosexuality.

“There’s an agenda of promoting the LGBTQ community and, although we know this is a secular society, please don’t come into my home with this,” said parent Abdul Azeem, chair of the Thorncliffe Park’s parent council. “It means we’re indoctrinating children with a minority lifestyle.”

Nazerah Shaikh said she does think the ministry of education could have done more to bust myths around the curriculum.

“If there’s an elephant in the room, let’s talk about the elephant.”

Read more about: