A staunch advocate of reproductive health in the House of Representatives urged newly-appointed Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Armin Luistro to view with open mind the need to pursue sexuality education for children.
“Sex or reproductive health education is one aspect our society direly needs . . .This, I believe is something that Secretary Luistro will consider,” Iloilo Representative Janette Garin said in a text message.
Garin, one of the principal authors of the reproductive health bill in the chamber, said the sexuality education curriculum was a product of years of study by experts in the academe. She said it would be a waste if this would just be scrapped from the curriculum.
“I hope and pray that he will not allow biased opinions as I have known him to be a reasonable educator,” she said.
With Luistro’s background, several groups have expressed doubts about the future of sexuality education in the country.
Br. Armin Luistro FSC is currently the chancellor and president of De La Salle University (DLSU). He was among those who joined the clamor for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s resignation in 2005.
Luistro entered religious life in 1979. He was the visitor (brother provincial) of the De La Salle Brothers (Philippine District) from 1997 to 2004 and president of De La Salle Philippines since November 2005.
The Catholic Church was up in arms again after the DepEd announced before the beginning of classes early this month that it will push through with the pilot-testing of sex education in 80 elementary schools and 79 high schools around the country this school year.
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.
Garin and another lawmaker, Gabriela partylist Representative said the teaching of sexuality education is mandated under the DepEd Memorandum 261, a de facto policy that integrates it in various subjects and year levels.
The female lawmakers said the DepEd would be reneging on its task if it does not teach sexuality education to students.
Sexuality education will lessen early pregnancies and early sex, reduce maternal mortality and decrease the high incidence of induced abortion, Garin said.
She said there is need to have a law on reproductive health, “where proper information and women and children’s care are handed down to the community, immune from politics and power play.”
Source: newsinfo.inquirer.net, 25 June 2010
Author: Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
www.ippf.org
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