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Sex educ vital in raising awareness about teenage pregnancy – PBBM
By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos, Philippine News Agency
The video thumbed down some provisions of Senate Bill 1979 or the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act of 2023, as well as features of the CSE that may “hypersexualize children at a very early age.
” (Pexels Photo)
MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Friday stressed the importance of sexuality education to raise understanding about teenage pregnancy.
Marcos said pressing issues concerning the youth, especially the growing cases of teenage pregnancy in the country, must be addressed and explained properly.
Marcos said “children having children is a very difficult situation for both the child and the parent.”
“Pagka teenager ‘yung nanay, hindi marunong alagaan ‘yung bata. Hindi nila alam paano alagaan ang sarili nila ‘pag buntis sila, kung anong kakainin, kung nanganak na, kung ano ang ipapakain doon sa bata (When the mother is a teenager, she doesn’t know how to take care of the child. They don’t know how to take care of themselves when they are pregnant, what to eat, and what to feed the child when they give birth),” Marcos told reporters in Burauen, Leyte, where he led the turnover of housing projects.
“These are all of the things that we need to address.
And so, the teaching of this in our schools is very, very, very important. And to make young people, especially, knowledgeable about what are the options that are truly available to us, and what the consequences are of having a child too soon, too early,” he added.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara on Tuesday assured the public that no “inappropriate concepts” related to the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) program would be implemented in public schools.
His statement came after a viral video posted by the Project Dalisay Facebook page under the National Coalition for the Family and the Constitution expressed dismay over the legislative push for the CSE program.
The video thumbed down some provisions of Senate Bill 1979 or the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act of 2023, as well as features of the CSE that may “hypersexualize children at a very early age.”
The provisions include the mandatory nature of the bill for all public and private schools, discussions of early childhood masturbation in ages 0 to 4, anal and oral sex for ages 16 to 18, and negotiating sexual encounters.
The DepEd defines CSE as an “age-appropriate, culturally relevant” program aimed at teaching sexuality and relationships by providing learners with “scientifically accurate, realistic, and non-judgmental data.”
Angara on Wednesday said there is an ongoing collaboration between community organizations and health service providers to ensure that DepEd programs remain “effective and culturally sensitive.”
The Commission on Population and Development on Wednesday expressed alarm over the rising incidence of adolescent pregnancies, particularly those under 15 years old.
Live births among girls aged 10 to 14 rose by 6.6 percent to 3,343 in 2023 from 2,411 in 2019, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
