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

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

Quitorio said the bishops are particularly concerned on where the focus of the sex education to be implemented would be, noting that the sex education being pushed in the past focused more on the physical aspect instead of being about the values surrounding it.

“The students should be taught the right sex education… not sexuality that is focused on the physical aspect but rather as a gift from God,” said Quitorio.

Last Monday, the Department of Education (DepEd) announced the inclusion of sex education in the basic curriculum this coming school year.

According to Education Secretary Mona Valisno, she will first consult with the Catholic Church regarding the plan with barely two weeks before the opening of classes.

Valisno said the integration of sex education or “Adolescent Reproductive Health” will be piloted in about 150 schools.

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 said 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 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.

The DepEd said the alarming increase among young people with sex-related diseases 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. (With a report by Ina Hernando Malipot)