Senator Sherwin Gatchalian questioned the inconsistencies in the implementation of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) program in the Philippines.
During a Senate inquiry on Tuesday, he emphasized a disconnect between the Department of Education’s CSE policies under DepEd Order (DO) No. 31, series of 2018 and the Reproductive Health (RH) Law, also known as Republic Act No. 10354.
“For a sensitive topic like comprehensive sexuality education, there is no room for confusion,” Gatchalian said.
“Clarity from policy is very important, because if you’re confused from the top, rest assured that the teacher will also be confused because they’re the ones tasked to implement all the way to our last classroom in our country,” the senator added.
Gatchalian pointed out that while the RH Law mandates that sexuality education be taught exclusively to adolescents, current policies have expanded this education to younger children.
“That was the policy agreed upon during that time and that should filter down all the way to our teachers. But in DO 31, it was diverted from RH Law. It was expanded all the way to kindergarten which is different from the intentions of the framework of RH Law,” he explained.
The senator called for clarity in policy to ensure that teachers can effectively deliver the curriculum in classrooms across the country.
“Let’s suspend it for now until we fix it and we make sure that it’s clear from the policymakers, and stay faithful to the RH law,” he said.
To tackle rising teenage pregnancies and HIV infections among Filipino youth, DepEd piloted CSE under DO 31 in Ilocos Region, Central Visayas and the Davao Region.
Gatchalian stressed the importance of learning from these pilot programs before implementing CSE nationwide and reiterated that any educational framework must remain faithful to the RH Law’s intentions and focus on adolescent health.
