|
Friday, June 30, 2006
Education defends proposal to include sex subject in school curriculum
THE Department of Education (DepEd) on Thursday maintained that sex education will address pre-marital sex among the youth.
In a Senate hearing, DepEd Secondary Education Assistant Director Estelita Evangelista said sex education, as contained in the adolescent reproductive health (ARH) program of the agency for public schools, will help students adopt responsible sexual behavior.
"ARH is designed to address the reproductive health concerns of adolescents who are increasingly exposed to risky behavior like early sexual activity, smoking, drinking, and illegal drugs with damaging and long-term consequences," Evangelista told the Senate committee on health and demography chaired by Senator Pilar Juliana "Pia" Cayetano.
She cited a study of the University of the Philippines Population Institute (Uppi) in 2002 showing that 23 percent of adolescents aged 15 to 24 years old were reported to have had pre-marital sex experience.
Forty percent of their first pre-marital experience was without contraception and 94 percent of them were unwilling or unprepared to become parents.
Of the young people aged 15 to 24 years old who have engaged in pre-marital sex, the Young Adult Fertility Survey (Yafs) of Uppi showed that 20 percent of them experienced this during high school, 13 percent of them after high school or during college, and 3.5 percent during elementary level.
The study also showed that the number of young people who had pre-marital sex experience has increased by three percent from 20 percent in 1994 to 23 percent in 2002.
There are about 15.1 million adolescents who comprise 20 percent of the country's population based on the 2002 census.
Cayetano, who supports sex education modules in public high school, said that the DepEd can hire the services of child psychologists to train teachers who will teach the subject.
"Sex education is a very delicate subject. The students should not only understand the subject but we should ensure they are comfortable with the subject. Their moral and religious beliefs should also be considered," she said.
Cayetano believed that sex education should be started at home but parents nowadays have no time to discuss it with their children, such as the consequence of pre-marital sex, and because of this, the department should step in.
Catalina Macaurog, spokesperson for the women sector of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), in the Senate hearing urged the DepEd to immediately implement sex education program in public high schools.
"It might be too late for the DepEd if they cannot implement this soon. They might also include sex education in elementary school because even a seven-year-old boy read newspapers (containing adult materials)," she said. (REC/Sunnex)
(June 30, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
|
