DepEd chief backs sex education

Newly appointed Education Secretary Mona Valisno has expressed support for Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral’s program that aims to include sex education in the basic curriculum to help curb the rising cases of sex-related diseases among the youth.

“It is a very important topic that school children should be educated about. As an education policy, we really need to do this, whether in elementary or secondary [level], it should be done,” she said on Monday.

Valisno, however, added that they have to discuss the matter with experts to determine at what age children can be taught sex education.

“We will consult all education stakeholders before we make the final decision on the issue,” she said.

According to the Education secretary, it is only proper that children be taught sex education, given the increasing incidents of premarital sex among the youth and teenage pregnancy.

She said that the country’s investment in education would only go to waste “if we have babies born every minute.”

Perils of early sex

Earlier, the Department of Education signed an agreement with the United Nations Children Fund to educate the youth on the perils of sex at an early age.

Under the agreement, a campaign dubbed as “Power of You” will be pioneered in some 29 schools in Metro Manila (National Capital Region), Cebu, Zamboanga, Davao, Olongapo City and Masbate.

The campaign also aims to reach at least 12,000 high-school students and inform them about sex-related diseases and unwanted pregnancies.

It is designed to raise awareness among students on the importance of abstinence and making the right decision, as well as the consequences of experiencing sex at an early age either by choice or pressure from peer groups.

Vanessa Tobin, Unicef representative, disclosed that “the Philippines is currently witnessing an increase in new Human Immunodeficiency Virus [HIV] infections” among 15 to 24-year-old Filipinos—from 41 in 2007 to 218 in 2009.

Tobin said that “apart from the rising cases of infection, a national survey has revealed that HIV is perceived wrongly by the Filipino youth, more of whom are engaging in pre-marital sexual activity.

The 2003 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey showed that 28 percent of young adults thought that Acquired Immune Deficiency Virus (AIDS) is curable while 73 percent thought that they are immune to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The survey found that overall prevalence of sexual activity among the youth also increased from 18 percent to 23 percent between 1994 and 2002.

Earlier, Cabral clashed with the politically influential Catholic Bishop’ Conference of the Philippines, which had criticized the Health department’s distribution of free condoms during Valentine’s Day as part of the agency’s effort to educate the public about the rising cases of HIV/AIDS in the country.

The Department of Health is pushing for a P400-million program to purchase condoms. –JAMES KONSTANTIN GALVEZ Reporter, Manila Times