Education and Science Minister Vesna Janevska says she has personally read the comprehensive sex education curriculum and sees nothing contentious in it. That same curriculum was withdrawn from secondary schools last week after a public backlash, and at her request the Bureau for Development of Education will carry out a detailed review.

Both sentences come from the same statement, and they contradict each other. If there is nothing contentious in the curriculum, what exactly is the Bureau reviewing?

The argument the minister makes

Janevska argues that sex education is needed in Macedonia and that there will be no compromise when it comes to knowledge about protection. "Pupils should learn how to protect themselves from sexual aggression, sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancy," she said.

She cites data on online harassment, sexually transmitted infections and teenage pregnancies. And she adds that morality and ethics are not opposed to the knowledge children need to develop properly.

That is the position of a minister defending the curriculum. The problem is that the same minister withdrew it.

Who asked for the withdrawal, and who is demanding a resignation

An open letter of criticism came from Bishop Jakov of Stobi of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, who objected to how gender identity and reproductive rights are presented in the curriculum and claimed pupils were being handed a predetermined value system.

From the other direction, the "Parents' Front" claims the subject was never withdrawn at all and is demanding Janevska's resignation. So one side thinks the withdrawal came too late and did not go far enough; the other thinks it never happened.

The NGO HERA responded that the concern should be directed at the rising number of cases of violence and harassment, rather than at the curriculum itself.

An elective nobody has to take

The key detail getting lost in the argument: this is an elective subject. No pupil is obliged to attend it, no parent is obliged to approve it. The curriculum is being withdrawn and reviewed over something that by definition depends on choice.

The ministry announced it is monitoring reactions on social media. That is the sentence worth reading twice. A curriculum drawn up by specialists is withdrawn while the ministry follows the comments - and then the same ministry states there is nothing contentious in it.

The review will show whether changes are needed before the subject returns as an elective. Until then, the generation in question is waiting - not on the result of an expert analysis, but on the outcome of an argument that started online.