Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has proposed the termination of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) program, and implemented in its place a curriculum more faithful to its legislative foundation.
The sexuality curriculum at present is not aligned with the principle of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law, he restated during an online press conference.
“My recommendation is to scrap CSE, [and] go back to the original intention of the RH law, which is (Reproductive Health) education. Tutal, nanggaling rin naman sa DepEd na ang legal basis ng CSE nila is the RH law (After all, it came from DepEd that the legal basis of their CSE is the RH law). So let's go back to the original. Ang nangyari kasi, nag-morph (Because what happened is, it morphed), from sex education to sexuality education, which is not the intention of the RH Law,” the lawmaker told the media.
He added that if RH education were to be reinstated, it would be easier to implement as schools, both private and public, are already teaching their students traditional sex education, which should be tweaked to suit the modern world.
Gatchalian has already talked the issue over with Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sonny Angara and RH law’s sponsor Pia Cayetano.
“Based on my analysis at nung tinignan ko ‘yung RH education, enough na ito para ma-address ‘yung problema natin pagdating sa teenage pregnancies,” he said.
(Based on my analysis and when I looked into RH education, it’s enough to address our problem regarding teenage pregnancies.)
Angara, in a chance interview, said he was receptive to Gatchalian’s earlier call to suspend the implementation of CSE while the agency reviews it and rectifies certain aspects of the department order.
