The Minister of Education, Pap Ndiaye. EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP
The Ministry of Education will launch an awareness campaign against homophobia in schools in May, focusing on welcoming LGBT + students, Pap Ndiaye announced on Wednesday, saying he wanted to cross “a decisive step” on this subject after the suicide of young Lucas. “We know that compared to heterosexual students, gay and lesbian students are four times more likely to attempt suicide, when it’s eleven times more for young transsexuals. We must improve their reception by attacking even more strongly situations of mockery, violence and harassment.says the Minister of Education in an interview published Wednesday on the website of the LGBTQ + magazine Stubborn.
“Observatories of LGBTphobia”
“These students can count on me, and they must be able to count on the adults present in the establishments, to put an end to each situation of harassment”he added. “I want to be the minister who will take a decisive step forward in taking LGBT+ people into account. This is why I decided to generalize in all the academies of observatories of LGBTphobia. The minister indicated in mid-January that he wanted this generalization after the suicide of a schoolboy, Lucas, in early January in Golbey (Vosges). His mother said on Monday that the harassment suffered by her son because of his homosexuality had clearly been “trigger” in its passage to action.
These observatories make it possible to collect information, initiate prevention and support actions for educational teams, or implement training. Moreover, “We are going to launch a strong awareness campaign on May 17, the international day against homophobia and transphobia. This campaign will focus on welcoming LGBT+ students.continues Pap Ndiaye in Stubborn. “We must also make an effort in the programs, in the way school sociability happens…”.
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The minister wants “the doors are wide open” associations that raise awareness on these subjects, “who have an accreditation and have acquired valuable expertise”. Sex education issues “are less divisive, especially politically, than in the past – except on the part of the extreme right”, he believes, judging that “Society has moved a lot for ten years”. “There is certainly an aggressive reactionary world that attacks schools via LGBT+ issues. But I think it’s a very loud reaction that doesn’t reflect today’s society.
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