Friday June 25, 2010
Philippines Sex Ed Program Revived, but Likely to be Killed Again
By James Tillman
MANILA, Philippines, June 25, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Countering earlier reports, Philippines Secretary of Education Mona Valisno said that the Department of Education (DepEd) has not halted its plans to implement a controversial new sex-education program in schools. But her renewed insistence may be too late to save the program: she is soon to be replaced by the current head of Manila’s De La Salle University, who has said he will review the program.
Earlier this month it was reported that Valisno had said that the sex education module would be held in abeyance until consultation with Catholic bishops was finished.
The new UN-backed program would integrate sex-education not only into classes like health, physical education, and science, but also into math, music, art, English, and others. It would be introduced in 80 elementary and 79 high schools across the nation, and taught to children as young as 12.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has accused the DepEd of distributing pornographic comics in the program, a charge that Valisno denies.
“We are not insensitive to the child’s state of mind, as some perceive us to be,” she said.
The DepEd had planned to upload the sex education modules on its website in response to such criticism. These plans, however, were soon shelved.
“We did not approve the proposal because the sex education program is classified by age [brackets]. It is age-appropriate,” DepEd spokesman Jonathan Malaya told GMANews.TV.
Making such modules available on the internet, Malaya maintained, could have made modules meant for high school students inadvertently available to younger students.
Malaya also said that Valisno was probably misquoted in the CBCP article that said the program would be put on hold.
Despite the DepEd’s current stubbornness, Malaya admitted that the fate of the sex education program rests on the opinion of the next Secretary of Education.
This will be Br. Armin Luistro, chancellor of Manila’s De La Salle University, who has agreed to become education minister in the cabinet of the incoming President Benigno Aquino.
Valisno has been Secretary of Education for outgoing Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who will step down on June 30. Luistro had been a vocal opponent of President Arroyo and had called for her resignation.
“I want to focus on programs that need to be continued because I’m sure there are also programs there that are actually good,” Luistro told reporters at the Manila hotel on Thursday. “But there are also programs that have to be reviewed such as this sex education issue.”
He said that he did not yet have detailed knowledge of the sex-education program, and that he is currently focusing on finding a replacement for the position of head of De La Salle University.
He also said, however, that it was important to consult with parents on the issue, a point on which the CBCP has repeatedly insisted. This point was also key to a suit brought by a CBCP attorney against the DepEd to stop the program.
The Philippine Constitution states that the “natural and primary right and duty of parents in the rearing of the youth for civic efficiency and the development of moral character shall receive the support of the Government.”
See related stories on LifeSiteNews.com:
UN-Backed Sex-Ed Program in Philippines Put on Hold
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jun/10062107.html
Philippines Scraps Sex Education in Schools After Catholic Opposition
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06061908.html