AN OFFICIAL of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Friday, October 4, said the proposal to hold separate classes for boys and girls will not prevent teenage pregnancy nor the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Bishop Roberto Mallari, chairman of the CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education (ECCCE), said there is no research that supports the proposal of National Youth Commission (NYC) Chairman Ryan Enriquez.

Besides, he said interaction with the opposite sex is necessary in one's social development.

"The great big world is designed for a system of dynamic social interactions that is almost boundless: no sex or gender, no age, no socio-economic status, no religion, no race. Nothing separates man from the rest," he added.

Last Wednesday, Enriquez pushed for the establishment of separate class sections for female and male students in Grades 7 to 12 in a bid to curb the rising number of teen pregnancies and HIV cases.

Instead of separating boys from girls, Mallari said it would be better if schools will adopt a multi-dimensional approach in looking deeper into the mentioned social problems.

This, he said, includes designing more opportunities for focus engagements with adults and with the community and church leaders to talk about the problems, and on how these problems create a culture of indifference, and value degradation.

"Teen pregnancies and HIV incidents are attributed, not to the heterogenity of students in classrooms, but to the lack of thoughtful regard to values and formation at home, in communities, and in sad cases, in some classrooms," said Mallari. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)