EDITORIAL — Learning about sex in school

The concerns expressed by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines on the sex education program of the Department of Education that will be taught to high school students starting this school year is an overreaction. What is wrong about teaching high school students about adolescent reproductive health?

Probably because of our religious backgrounds, talking about sex still remains a no-no. However, this attitude towards sex should change, especially in this day and age when the subject is contained in songs, movies, and even advertisements.

Teenagers might be misguided that it is perfectly alright for them to engage in such activity because they see it on television and they hear it in songs. Making adolescents understand the subject at a time when their hormones are raging and are so curious to know about it might help solve the country's problems of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Keeping the matter hush-hush will just make teenagers all the more curious about sex.

While it is alright to have sex education in school for high school students, the Department of Education should, however, make sure that the teacher who will handle the subject must have the proper training. The teacher should be able to deal with rowdy students and sensitive questions. The teacher must also take care that the discussions are kept at an educational level, aimed to help the students learn about the facts and consequences of the sex act.

Aside from choosing qualified teachers to handle the sex education subject, the education department should also take care that aside from teaching the facts about the act, values should also be incorporated in the subject. This way, adolescent students would know that they are not supposed to have sexual relations yet and that they are not capable of dealing with the consequences of the act at their age.

Sex is a beautiful thing and it would be best if children learn about it from the proper people - parents and teachers - than learn about it on the streets, and worse, from people who just want to take advantage of their innocence.