Starting this school year, sex education will be included in the country’s basic curriculum.

Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Mona Valisno announced this last Monday, saying the integration of sex education or “Adolescent Reproductive Health” will be piloted in almost 150 schools after consultations with the Catholic Church and other stakeholders.

But the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) maintained its position that sex education should be left to the parents of students.

“Ever since, the position of the CBCP in sex education should be left to the parents, especially if this involves children who are underage…,” Msgr. Pedro Quitorio, CBCP media director, said in forum in Manila.

Valisno said DepEd has been doing the necessary steps to make the integration of sex education in the basic education curriculum, including elementary subjects, happen. “We will continue with its implementation because our students really need this and the country’s investment in education will only be put to waste if the population continues to grow at an outstanding rate,” she said.

She also added that there are continuous dialogues between the people in the Church and DepEd representatives to create a unified decision. “We want to make them understand how important this topic is and what are the advantages that our school children can learn out of it,” Valisno stressed.

Valisno explained that sex education is very timely with all the distractions available for the young students. According to her, there is nothing wrong with it since the topic has being taught and discussed in subjects like Science and Edukasyong Pantahan at Pangkabuhayan (EPP).

“It will be so much better if teachers in our schools will discuss sex education to students instead of letting them pick up ideas about sex from dubious sources such as the Internet,” she said.

Valisno also said that the sex education modules are designed specifically to raise awareness on the consequences of premarital sex – either by choice or due to pressure from peer group – on students. Rather than sex alone, Valisno stressed that the modules for sex education will be focused on adolescent reproductive health, rising teenage pregnancies, responsible parenthood, gender equality and sustainable environment.

DepEd said the alarming increase of sex-related diseases among young people is mainly caused by ignorance. “When they [students] are informed and properly educated about it, we can prevent the increase in the number of youths with sex-related diseases,” she said.

Valisno also said that the rising cases of sex-related diseases among the youth have now reached an alarming rate because of lack of knowledge in the subject. “The number increased from 41 in 2007 to 218 in 2009,” she revealed.

Apart from rising cases of infection, Valisno said that misperception about HIV is still prevalent among Filipino youth and more are engaging in pre-marital sexual activity.

Earlier this year, the DepEd signed an agreement with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). The partnership is considered as “soft implementation” of the sex education program since it aims to educate the youth on the perils of sex at an early age through the campaign called “Power of You.” (With a report from Leslie Ann G. Aquino)