Sex education now a reality

MANILA, Philippines—Besides worrying about classroom shortages, textbook errors, and large classes, some teachers will now also have to worry about teaching sex education as more than 23 million students go back to schools on Tuesday.

Despite opposition from the Catholic Church and some parents, the Department of Education (DepEd) will push through this school year with the pilot-testing of sex education in 80 elementary schools and 79 high schools around the country.

The DepEd has been teaching sex education before as it was integrated in other subjects like Biology, but this time the Church is protesting a specific project of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to introduce the subject in schools.

Education officials insist that the bishops have nothing to worry about because the DepEd is open to deleting portions of the teaching modules that the Church finds offensive.

Economists have blamed creeping poverty in this nation of over 90 million on a high population growth rate, placed annually at more than 2 percent. A third of the population earns a dollar a day, the poverty threshold defined by the World Bank.

“In Grade V, teaching about the reproductive system is very clinical,” said DepEd Assistant Secretary Teresita Inciong. “They have models showing the flow of the sperm cell. Copulation is not there [but] the flow of the egg cell meeting [the sperm cell] is there.”

“We will not be talking about physical sexual activity but the totality of being a person,” Inciong added. “I think it is the right of students to ask questions as long as they are about their lesson.”

The UNFPA project will be pilot-tested in Grades V and VI classes and in high schools in Olongapo City, Ifugao, Mountain Province, Masbate, Bohol, Eastern Samar, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Sultan Kudarat.

For Grade V, sex education will be included in Science and Health lessons on the reproductive system.

For Grade VI, it will be part of Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan and include lessons on the “proper behavior between peers of different gender,” personal hygiene and the problems caused by unwanted pregnancy.

All about growing up

Yolanda Quijano, Bureau of Elementary Education director, said Grade V students would learn about their reproductive system and its different parts.

“They will discuss the function of the main parts. They will also talk about growing up (pagbibinata at pagdadalaga) and its symptoms like menstruation for women,” Quijano said.

“The concept that a woman could get pregnant would also be introduced so how should they take care of themselves when they are with their peers so that nothing bad happens to them,” she said.

“You really have to use English words because this is about science and health. There is no malice involved,” Quijano added.

Inciong said that the Church might have been alarmed because it got hold of a teaching module about birth spacing. “It was for grown ups who did not go to schools. I think this is a miscommunication,” she said.

Unwanted pregnancies

“We did not do this so that there would be more unwanted pregnancies. We want our students to be more aware and to be prepared for real life,” she added.

Secondary Education director Lolita Andrada said sex education should be taught in schools to avoid “risky sexual behavior” among students.

“This is a right of parents [but] we believe that it is also the responsibility of the school. Studies have shown that those not taught in school have a bigger chance of engaging in risky sexual behavior,” Andrada said.

Inciong said that after the pilot-testing this year, the DepEd would review the project before implementing it nationwide.

23.43M students

According to Education Secretary Mona Valisno, an estimated 23.43 million students were expected in private and public schools at Tuesday’s opening of classes.

Around 20.17 million of them—13.44 million to elementary and 5.65 million to high school—would go to the country’s public school system, which has 430,000 classrooms and 501,158 teachers, Valisno said.

“We are 100 percent ready for the school opening. School officials should be reminded not to collect illegal fees and that uniforms are not mandatory,” Valisno said.

Former DepEd-National Capital Region director Teresita Domalanta said that, generally, schools in the provinces only have one shift per school day.

It is only in highly urbanized areas like Metro Manila that schools have up to three shifts. However, only 11 percent of the 684 public schools in Metro Manila have three shifts, Domalanta added.

Question of priorities

Alliance of Concerned Teachers national chair Antonio Tinio said that in spite of the critical shortage of resources in basic education, the Arroyo administration had imposed cuts in this year’s DepEd budget.

“The 2010 DepEd budget is lower than last year’s. Malacañang imposed a P1.62 billion reduction, from P174.46 billion in 2009 to P172.84 billion this year. This is the last thing our ailing public education system needs,” Tinio said in a statement.

He noted that for the incoming school year 2010-2011, there will be a shortage of 54,060 teachers, 4,538 principals, and 6,473 head teachers; 61,343 classrooms, 816,291 seats, and 113,051 water and sanitation facilities.

The DepEd will also need an additional P400 million to address the textbook shortage, Tinio added.

Tinio noted that while there was an increase in the budget for salaries and benefits of teachers, this was offset by significant cuts in maintenance expenses and capital outlay for classrooms and equipment.

Challenge to Aquino

“The Arroyo administration allocated P3.78 billion less for capital outlay this year. That’s equivalent to 6,311 additional classrooms that could have been built. Malacañang also cut P729 million from the daily operations fund of schools,” Tinio said.

He said that the appropriation for debt servicing had grown by a staggering P68.5 billion from 2008 to 2010 under the Arroyo administration and had been the main cause of the worsening crisis in education.

Tinio challenged President-elect Benigno Aquino III to take “bold new measures” and reduce debt payment spending. –Philip Tubeza, Philippine Daily Inquirer