MANILA, Philippines — “There’s nowhere in our curriculum that teaches these things to learners between 0 to 4.”
vegas x slotsThe Department of Education stood its ground on Tuesday, debunking claims that childhood masturbation and what critics describe as high-risk sexual behavior would be taught to school children aged four and below under the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) program.
Article continues after this advertisementAt the Senate Panel on Basic Education’s public hearing, Sen. Risa Hontiveros asked whether or not the CSE program forces educators to teach these kinds of things to learners aged 0 to 4 — similar to what was circulated online.
FEATURED STORIES NEWSINFO PNP exec involved in mishandling P6.7-B drug case now out of PH NEWSINFO Marcos grants clemency to ex-Iloilo City mayor NEWSINFO Lack of slots makes entry into ‘Pisay’ tougherThis, however, was denied by DepEd Assistant Secretary Janir Datukan, who explained that these are not the kinds of things taught to children in schools, even after the issuance of the controversial Department of Education Order (DO) No. 31.
“There’s nowhere in our curriculum that teaches these things to learners between 0 [and] 4. Hindi po covered din natin yan kasi ang mga learners natin nag s-start at 5 years old sa DepEd,” said Datukan.
Article continues after this advertisement“Like we said, all of the competencies that we have under this called CSE are mapped with existing learning competencies already there in the curriculum,” he added.
Article continues after this advertisementLater in the hearing, panel head Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian clarified why DO 31 states that CSE shall be taught to learners of public and private schools in elementary, junior, and senior high school and of all learning centers for special education.
Article continues after this advertisementFor Gatchalian, there seems to be a “disconnect,” noting that the DepEd previously argued that the legal basis of the order is the Reproductive Health Law — which clearly states that reproductive health education will only be taught to adolescents or children aged 10 to 19.
“But when you go to DO 31, there’s a disconnect. It calls for the implementation of comprehensive sexuality education [for] all learners in public and private schools. And when you say all learners, this is Kindergarten all the way to Grade 12. So on legal basis alone, meron na tayong disconnect,” Gatchalian pointed out.
Article continues after this advertisementAt this point, DepEd Undersecretary Filemon Ray Javier interjected, explaining that DO 31 was issued to prepare children for “sex education proper.”
“What DepEd did is to map and align existing subjects already which would have been done even in early stages of [the] education system like kindergarten. But it’s not the sex education proper; it’s just foundational knowledge. For example, in kindergarten, just the parts of the body—five senses,” said Javier.
“That’s why when DO 31 was issued, it was mentioned that [it’s] for all learners, but in reality, the sexuality education proper would only begin at 10 years old. Prior to that, it would just be foundational. It would be subjects that would have been taught even if there’s no Comprehensive Sexual Education order from the DepEd,” he emphasized.
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