The argument on whether sex education is needed in the curriculum of high school students in the Philippines or not is one of the hot topics during the year of 2018. There are mixed reactions about it when it was brought up by the Department of Education, some wanted sex education to be part of the module, while others think that it is not necessary as it will cause curious minds and exploration among teens or high school students. Government didn’t stop on trying to stop and prevent different reproductive problems, sexuality concerns among teens and early childbearing, that’s why they came up with the idea of why not giving this kind of education to high school students. The same subject is being implemented in the US, and that is what the government are trying to replicate. Sex education is where the youth are taught to know the different risks of having multiple partners, and other reproductive health concerns. Also, it aims to lessen the teenage pregnancy that the country is strongly facing in this generation. This particular topic also helps to avoid gender confusion and to further discover their sexualities among themselves. Lastly, the regime is trying to avoid pre-marital sex that leads on over population, which is one of the major problem things in this religious nation. With all things concerned, is it necessary to bring in sex education among high school students? Will this eliminate the problem that are stated earlier? Since there are different opinions about this matter, the Department of Education are yet to set standards for the said subject. According to Montemayor of Philippine news Agency, the department is so serious about implementing SexEd to students, that they are willing to mix SexEd in all the regular subjects of the students, in addition to their different activities in school like physical education subjects and extra-curricular stuffs. For example, in values education subject, the topics like harassment, conveying privacy and good relationship with other people will be added along with the main topics of the said matter.
It seems to me that sex education is in its’ utmost importance to our youth nowadays, I had mentioned above problems this country is facing this day and age, and it seems like Filipinos are still being close minded in those issues saying that it won’t fix the enigma. (Montemayor, 2019) stated that according to PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority), women aged fifteen to nineteen years old had begun motherhood at the rate of 9 percent. If this is the case, then there shouldn’t be no problem on letting high school students learn things about sex because until we try, we won’t be able to know if the it’s effective or not. The problem with most Filipinos is that they are afraid of changes. Every time the administration tries to implement one thing, the citizens trying to stop it without even trying first. Specially in this genesis where it’s really hard to look for a job, and if there’s less jobs, how does one can manage to sustain their family’s needs distinctively at their young age. Some parents are right that it may cause curiosity and exploration among teens, however the nature of teens is too be curious and explorative, so when they start to try having sex at their tender age, it is crucial for them to already know how to do sex in a safe way by using condoms and they will know these stuffs once they are taught in school via sex education. Also, Philippines has the highest rate of cases of HIV positives in the world and that is extensively alarming. (Pedrajas, 2019) We ranked number 1 for HIV in the whole world and one of the reason is because this country is dominated by male to male sex instead of male to female sex. What’s more shocking about the idea is that the diagnosed patients are getting younger and younger every day. This disturbing news could really lead to a fact that sex education is important to avoid, prevent and stop this deadly virus. Inadequate knowledge of the juvenile about the transmission of HIV is one of the contributors to the epidemic.
(Jokin de Irala, 2009) Sex education is also essential for the teens as this is the most widespread source of right information about dealing with sexuality while their families comes second. This is because of the fact that youths prefer to say sensitive things to their friends than to their family, same in the idea of teachers. They tend to say more to the teachers than to their parents. The best way to teach them on how to overcome sexuality issues is to talk to them personally without any judgement, because there are parents who gets irate when they find out that the teen has a different sexuality desired. This will also help parents on how to deal with their teenage sexuality issues.
(UNESCO, 2019) Gender equality is taught too in the subject, it helps legitimize high school students and also to avoid gender-based violence. Gender is one of the biggest topics globally as they are trying to make it acceptable. In the Philippines where majority are catholics, it is hard to make the people accept different gender types. So in sex education, it will open the eye of other community and citizens to fully understand the feelings and the beliefs of fellow teen Filipinos. Doing this, will help them boost their ego, boldness and self-reliance. This will also decrease the volume of bullies at school because of one’s preffered gender. Bear in mind that teenagers or high school students are the most crucial stage in emotional development as they are really fragile plus the fact that this generation is more sensitive and suicide prone society. All people, adult or young should feel that they are valuable no matter what path they choose, whether they feel like being a boy or a lady like. We all deserve respectful commitment and sex education will help a lot on this matter.
With the intensifying issues that this land is facing, I think it is not bad to try things that the authorities assume that will help us. In the end, all of us will benefit in those advantages. Some might be wrong about what sex education could possibly do, while others might be right. However, education is always important for us to acquire right familiarity on different viruses, reproductive concerns and sexuality of individuals. This domestic science subject hopes to aid such problems, so why not try it and go for it. If it doesn’t work, then the administration will try a new solution that they think will help us. HIV, early childbearing and gender inequality is not a joke specially that this country has the higher rate of the said virus. It will help the juvenile to be more cautious thus, they will start to use protection whenever they wanted to do it at the early age but it doesn’t mean that it is rightful to have sexual intercourse at the early age. However, like what is mentioned above, teens are really curious and this era is so liberal that they wanted to try things they easily see on the internet, TV and from friends. Parents doesn’t have the ability to be with their child 24 hours a day because they work and the child goes to school so they cannot look after them all the time. So when they feel like doing such things, atleast they already know the do’s and don’ts and also the consequences. That’s how sex education will change the mindset of the society from not being careful to being very careful and it’s better if it starts at the right age in this community.
