Introduction of sexuality education lessons in public elementary and high schools
It is undeniable that sexual education has an essential role in the holistic health of every citizen. In particular, it has positive implications to prevent unplanned pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Grose et al (2013) puts forward that school-based sexual education programs address these social problems however youth are not given the opportunity to be taught sexual education in schools. This inaccessibility to information and skills leads to them being not capable of making informed decisions. I then propose that sexual education do be introduced to the education system, especially for public elementary and high schools.
As cited in La Bella (2014), refusal to recognize the importance of reproductive healthcare is one of the reasons why the country remains one of the poorest. Also discussed in the paper is the argument that there are too many children leading to the misery of the poverty-stricken. The poverty trap, ensuring that people have no access to information, leads to lack of awareness to reproductive health, family planning, management of sexual behavior and health rights. To prove this, the Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey (2013) shows one in every ten Filipino women aged 15 to 19 are already pregnant. This fact alone proves that the target population of the health policy should be the youth, especially since they are very impressionable.
This implementation has positive effects as well as negative ones, as cited in Rahmani, Merghati-Khoei, & Fallahi (2018) in their study that interviewed young women aged 18-35 on advantages and disadvantages of sexual education. Advantages included increased knowledge about reproductive health, normalization of sexual and reproductive issues, self-efficacy to avoid risky sexual behavior. Meanwhile, reported disadvantages included possible motive for initiating sexual behavior and tainted modesty for ethical and religious modalities. Personally I believe that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and with proper education technique that is considerate of everyone’s culture and preferences, the biases against sexual education is contemplated.
Although it is ideal to think to implement education can easily be integrated, Iyer, Clarke & Aggleton (2014) have identified four key barriers that prohibit proper delivery of sexual education. Among these are: cultural and contextual factors wherein religion and political beliefs influence approach to education; policy factors including the support of leader in effective implementation of laws, policies and arrangements that promote sexual education; resrouce constraints evident in lack of access to financial, material and technical resources of school-based programmes; and school level factors that focus on learning activities and teaching methods of sexual education as well as well-trained instructors.
Because of all the information above, I believe that it sexual education should be implemented as a health policy, and all efforts to promote this should also be considered. There have been many interventions already done by our healthcare workers such as through the Usapan by the USAID Philippines, which helped midwives to generate demand for family planning products by doing group discussion on maternal health care. It was able to account for different stages of pregnancy, such as about having children, family size planning, pregnancy concerns and men’s role in women’s reproductive health. As cited by Biton (2020), one-on-one counseling also helps further the goal of the intervention. Usapang Bagong Maginoo, the Usapan series for males is particularly important because it encourages unintended pregnancies along with partners of the mothers. It challenged some traditionally held perceptions on what men can do and modified the behavior of fathers in starting a family. Because these educational serieses are already proven effective, it is not impossible to downsize it and simplify the terms to that of elementary school and high school students. By utilizing the youth’s curiosity, we are able to save them from misconceptions and provide them with proper guidance of reproductive health.
It is very possible that this will be implemented as long as there is a comprehensive plan for maternal and reproductive health. In an implementation model done by Mabray & Labauve (2002), we should start with community involvement before any interventions. Health care workers, neighbors, mentors and leaders, schools, parents, and peers should contribute to the learning of everyone, and only then can we create programs. Promotion of abstinence, teaching effective birth control, and constant teaching of performance and skills will then lead to reduced teen pregnancy rate. This is accommodating to all barangays and when paired with inclusion of schools, the youth will be much more equipped with objective truths about sexual education.
To conclude, I also agree with the thoughts of La Bella (2014) who said that eliminating the concept of sex as taboo will lead to an effective sexuality education program. She also puts forward the importance of circling back to the stages of cognitive development into equipping the youth with knowledge. We are already so knowledgeable about the learning styles of children and we can guide how they can learn and all it will take is support and planning. Introduction of sexuality education lessons in public elementary and high schools is backed up by research that puts forward its advantages. By starting early, we are able to promote an inclusive society that recognizes sex as a natural part of life. Why is it that we can see childbirth as a miracle, but we cannot look at the youth and fully explain the objective, science-backed information that comes along with it?
References:
Biton, S. J. A. (2020). Advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights: An overview of the best practices in the Philippines. Asian Journal of Women’s Studies, 26(1), 114–127. doi:10.1080/12259276.2019.1690778
Grose, R. G., Grabe, S., & Kohfeldt, D. (2013). Sexual Education, Gender Ideology, and Youth Sexual Empowerment. The Journal of Sex Research, 51(7), 742–753. doi:10.1080/00224499.2013.809511
Iyer, P., Clarke, D., & Aggleton, P. (2014). Barriers to HIV and sexuality education in Asia. Health Education, 114(2), 118–132. doi:10.1108/he-06-2013-0025
La Bella, V (2014). Incorporating Sexuality Education in the Public School System: Perceptions from the Philippines
Mabray, D., & Labauve, B. J. (2002). A Multidimensional Approach to Sexual Education. Sex Education, 2(1), 31–44. doi:10.1080/14681810220133604
Rahmani A, Merghati-Khoei E, Fallahi A.(2018) Perceived Advantages and Disadvantages of Sex Education in Young Women: A Qualitative Study. Int J High Risk Behav Addict. 7(2):e57221. doi: 10.5812/ijhrba.57221
Salvador, J. T., Sauce, B. R. J., Alvarez, M. O. C., & Rosario, A. B. (2016). The Phenomenon of Teenage Pregnancy in the Philippines. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 12(32), 173. https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2016.v12n32p173