Paul Krampah, a public relations officer for Ghana’s Education Ministry, said he is “optimistic” that his department’s sex education programs will make homosexuality a “thing of the past,” according to PinkNews.com. A statement by Krampah implies that by teaching about the health risks of being sexually active—such as the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections—the program will stop young people from being gay. The deputy director general of the country’s Education Service has said that homosexuality “started with single-sex schools…. It has become prevalent, and so more people have become aware of it. This is just one of the many problem we have in our educational system.” This past year, gay people have been persecuted in Ghana, with the country’s minister reportedly ordering the arrest of all LGBT people in the Western Region, and landlords and tenants asked to inform on people believed to be gay.

To read the PinkNews story, click here.