Senator Gatchalian wants comprehensive sex education intensified

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Wednesday urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to revisit and intensify its comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in a bid to address teenage pregnancy which typically result in young mothers dropping out of school.

In a hearing of the Senate committee on basic education, Gatchalian, panel chair, raised concern about teenage pregnancy in the country, lamenting that girls outperform boys based on academic performance.

“Nanghihinayang ako eh. Magagaling ‘yung mga girl students natin, they outperform boys. But if they are not aware of sex education, not aware of their bodies, not aware of the perils if they get pregnant early, then they would drop out and become full time mothers,” the lawmaker said.

“The problem with that is they will never go back to school or they will end up with no skills to get gainfully employed. The way forward is to prevent,” he added.

Gatchalian thus told DepEd that the CSE should be revisited to ensure that girls as young as 14 years old will be prevented from getting pregnant and will be kept learning in schools.

For DepEd’s part, Assistant Secretary Alma Torio said the agency has already issued a policy on the implementation of the CSE. In this policy, she said discussions on CSE could be integrated in various learning areas like Values Education, Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC), Health, and Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE).

“As to the concern on the possible dropping out of our victims…we have these flexible options for our learners. One of which is the provision of alternative delivery mode,” Torio said.

In January, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte highlighted in her second basic education report that the number of students discontinuing their studies due to teenage pregnancy and early marriage has decreased by over 88% given the availability of alternative learning programs.

Based on the physical education and health subject of the revised K-10 curriculum, sexual and reproductive health rights will be introduced to Grade 4 students in the fourth quarter.

Changes during puberty and the management of these changes will be taught in Grade 5, while the concepts and benefits of early pregnancy prevention will be discussed in Grade 6.

Topics on mental health affecting adolescents will be taught to Grade 7 students, while those in 8th grade will learn about the nature of sexually transmitted infections and the appropriate ways to show affection.

Grade 9 learners are set to understand responsible parenthood and family planning, while maternal and child health will be discussed in Grade 10.

The phased implementation of the new K-10 curriculum among learners in Kinder, Grade 1, Grade 4, and Grade 7 will begin in School Year 2024-2025.

It will be followed by Grades 2, 5, and 8 in SY 2025-2026; Grades 3, 6 and 9 in SY 2026-2027; and Grade 10 in SY 2027-2028.—AOL, GMA Integrated News