Abstract:
Despite the mixed public responses, the South African Department of Basic Education decided to issue its
detailed comprehensive sexuality education scripted lesson plans for testing in schools. I conducted a desktop
review by searching for digital newspapers in the online archive Sabinet References using six key terms such as
“comprehensive sexuality education”, “schools”, and “South Africa.” In total, I retrieved 128 newspaper articles
and selected 83 for a Foucauldian discourse analysis underpinned by governmentality theory. The newspapers
reported on marches, letters, and press conferences from various stakeholders such as parents, learners, teachers,
and other social figures. Some stakeholders were in favour of the rollout while others were against, but of
interest was the seemingly neutral position of those whose reporting was presented in a balanced, non-biased
manner. In this paper, I aim to make sense of this neutrality in addition to the views in favour of and against the
rollout while suggesting implications for educational settings.
