Filipino official defends sex education plan in high schools

A Filipino education official has defended the inclusion of sex education in the high school curriculum, despite criticism from a conservative non-government organization about the plan by the Philippine Department of Education to release a module teaching sex education to high school students, reported the Philippine News Agency on Tuesday.

Dr. Recaredo Borgonia, Cebu Provincial Schools Division superintendent of the Department of Education, said sex education was necessary because whether or not sex education was held in schools, students will know about sex eventually.

"We have to admit, whether we like it or not, young students will still know about it, and usually, their source of information would not be from teachers or parents, but from their peers and that is dangerous," Borgonia said.

Implementing sex education would allow schools to teach students a greater understanding about sex, in contrast to letting students learn about it through less reliable sources, Borgonia said.

Human Life International (HLF), a conservative non-government organization, recently criticized Education Acting Secretary Fe Hidalgo when she announced that the department would release a module teaching sex education to high school students this month. HLF has accused the Department of Education of promoting premarital sex by teaching the use of condoms and other forms of contraceptives.

Borgonia denied the accusation, saying the department's sex education curriculum discourage of premarital sex.

But before sex education would be conducted, Borgonia said, sex education teachers have to undergo an orientation to be conduced by experts from the Department of Health and the Population Commission.

He said the best people to teach children about sex should be their own parents. Unfortunately, most parents have to attend to other problems or needs, or the parents themselves may have limited knowledge about sex education, he said.

"So, it's better to give them the understanding in the right way, at the right time, and in the right place," he said.

Source: Xinhua