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Cape Coast – Professor Richardson Addae-Mununkum, a Professor of Curriculum and Pedagogy at the University of Education, Winneba’s Department of Educational Foundations, has attributed the over-politicisation of the gender identity content for Year 2 Physical Education and Health (Elective) teacher manual to Rev John Ntim Fordjour, the MP for Assin South.
He characterized the MP’s actions as excessively politicized, emphasizing that the inclusion of the disputed gender identity content in the teacher’s manual was solely an error.
In a telephone conversation on GBC Radio Central’s Morning Show on Thursday, January 15, 2026, Prof. Addae-Mununkum repudiated the notion that it was a deliberate action on the part of the government, underscoring that governments do not deliberately interfere in the content development of the curriculum, except when acting as the head of The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), offering general policy directives.
“The government only appoints the head of NaCCA. The over 200 members tasked with developing the curriculum are not politicians, but professionals who are not aligned politically,”, he stresssd. Dimmising it as “untrue for anyone to read political meanings into a curriculum content”.
He further alluded that if politicians were to be held accountable for the current impasse, then Ntim Fordjour ought to bear responsibility. “He was the Deputy Minister of Education when the curriculum was developed”, he clarified. Further emphasizing that educational issues should not be politicized, he expressed disdain and disappointment with the Assin South MP’s actions.
The expert in curriculum counseled that when such issues arise, it is imperative to investigate and conclusively resolve the matter holistically. “The political football regarding education issues doesn’t help anyone’s cause,” he said.
Furthermore, Prof. Addae-Mensah noted that curriculum development is a comprehensive, expert-driven process that is devoid of partisanship. “Based on my knowledge, involvement, and best practices, politicians do not determine the content of the curriculum,” he stressed.
On NaCCA’s actions taken so far, the pedagogy expert stated that “they’ve acted rationally by recalling all such manuals,” he said, promising to personally verify on the NaCCA website whether the changes have been effected online.
To parents and other stakeholders in education, he alleviated their concerns by noting that the undesirable content is contained within the teachers’ manual, rather than the students’ textbooks. He observed that, based on the professional expertise of teachers, although the content was included in the manual, it was highly improbable that teachers would transmit the same content to students.
In Ghana, and based on our ethos, gender is purely male and female with no other variations, he said. It was very unfortunate that such content found its way into the manual, highlighting that it was for the purposes of broadening the teachers’ horizon, though not acceptable in Ghana.
He sum he assured all Ghanaians to relax since this is nothing to be scared about. “I was part of the curriculum development and we were tasked with ensuring that all examples reflect our cultural values”, he emphasised. ” This is just unfortunate and no cause for alarm”.
He assured all Ghanaians to remain calm, as there is no cause for concern. “I was part of the curriculum development team and we were tasked with ensuring that all examples reflect our cultural values”, he revealed. “This is simply unfortunate, but no reason for alarm”.
