Sex education meant to address HIV/AIDS, unwanted pregnancies — UNFPA

The controversial sex education module, currently being reviewed after the Department of Education (DepEd) stopped its pilot testing in public schools in Metro Manila, was meant to address the health concerns of in-school adolescents exposed to risky behavior, a representative of the United Nations Fund on Population Activities (UNFPA) said.

In a message included in the module, called Lesson Guides on Adolescent Reproductive Health (A Population Education Concept), Dr. Zahidul Huque, UNFPA representative, said it was originally made to address the reproductive health concerns of youths who are increasingly exposed to risky behavior, including early sexual activity, smoking, drinking and illegal drugs with damaging and long-term consequences.

The 84-page module, with a six-page prologue, was prepared and published by the Department of Education, the DepEd’s Bureau of Secondary Education (BSE), and TRIDEV Specialists Foundation Inc., in cooperation with the (UNFPA) and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation.

Huque said the lesson guides are meant to give information to students in secondary schools and is one of the contributions of the Philippine government in the effort to meet the goals of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Program of Action.

Huque said they hope to see this document adopted, utilized down to the district school levels, and its impact evaluated after at least a year of implementation.

"In doing so, we help empower our young people with appropriate and right information on reproductive health that will play a role in addressing the increasing HIV/AIDS prevalence among this age group, which is one of the goals of the Millennium Declaration," said Huque.

A copy of the module was distributed to the media recently to show that the education department has nothing to hide in this controversial issue.

UNFPA envisions a partnership with the DepEd under the sixth Country Program in creating an adolescent-friendly policy environment in its continuing effort to make the educational system more responsive to the reproductive health needs of the young, added Huque.

The lesson guide, he said, is a pioneering work that integrates the health concerns of adolescents in selected secondary curricula using the life skills-based approach. It was written in Filipino and English and was designed as teaching guides for public high school teachers.

In the module’s foreword, DepEd officer-in-charge Undersecretary Fe Hidalgo said that reproductive health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.

It is a common observation, however, that the reproductive health needs of adolescents have been largely ignored by reproductive health service providers, she said.

Hidalgo stressed that the reproductive health needs of this group should be based on information that would help them attain a level of maturity required to make responsible decisions.

"Information and services should be made available to adolescents to help them understand their sexuality and protect them from unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and subsequent risk of infertility. Young men, therefore, should learn to respect young women’s self-determination and share responsibility with women in matters of sexuality and reproduction," said Hidalgo.

The prototype lesson plans to integrate population education concepts in Health, Araling Panlipunan, Technology and Livelihood Education, Science, English and Filipino and which were based on the Population Education Curriculum.

"The lessons were carefully crafted so they will naturally blend with the lessons/competencies of the mother area. While these are prototype lesson plans, the activities are suggestive not prescriptive. The teacher is free to inject activities that she/he thinks is appropriate to the age, interest and capability of the students," explained Hidalgo.

The members of the editorial board of the module include BSE DepEd’s Dr. Lolita Andrada, Corazon Echano, consultant Lourdes Arellano, and TRIDEV’s Perfecto Uysingco. The managing editors of the project are BSE DepEd’s Melinda Rivera and Rosalie Masilang and TRIDEV’s Milagros Uysingco, Elvira Abag and Dr. Jovanni Templonuevo. Contributing writers are BSE DepEd’s Thelma Cruz, Rosalinda Ferrer, Lourdes Ilagan, Flora Homeres, and Virgilio Regular; DepEd NCR’s Dr. Eva Robles, DepEd Region 1’s Evelyn Martinez; and Thelma Landicho of the Torres National High School.

Meanwhile, protest over the appointment of Tarlac Rep. Jesli Lapus as education secretary continues. The militant youth organization Kabataan Party said yesterday that Lapus’ appointment is an insult to the agency’s bureaucracy, particularly to the equally qualified education officials.

"While Rep. Lapus also has credentials to qualify as a DepEd chief, the fact remains that there are other career officials within the department that are equally qualified and have long and actual experience running the agency," said Kabataan Party president Raymond Palatino.

He added that such hasty appointments diminishes the integrity and high regard for the DepEd chief post and vulnerably sacrifices the office’s independence from political and business interests.

"The appointment of politicians in the DepEd post reduces the office into a mere stepping stone or launching pad for selfish political interests," he said.