DepEd’s re-intro of sex ed to “brainwash” pupils’ minds, says pro-life body
|
|
MANILA, April 2, 2008—With the move to re-introduce the sex education in public schools, the Department of Education (DepEd) is going to “brainwash” the minds of students and parents, said a member of Catholic Church-backed pro-life organization.
|
The DepEd is going to “mislead” the public in general and students in particular because according to DepEd, it is okay to have sex and enjoy it as long as pregnancy could be avoided through artificial contraceptives.
This is morally wrong, Victoria Edna Garayblas-Monzon, MD of Human Life International – Philippines (HLI), told CBCPNews.
The DepEd perceives sex purely as an object of pleasure, not as a sacred gift by God to be exercised between a man and woman of age, who are married civilly or sacramentally, she added.
Founded in 1981 by Fr. Paul Marx, OSB, HLI’s mission is to promote and defend the sanctity of life and family around the world according to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.. With 99 satellite offices in 80 countries, HLI is the largest international, pro-life, pro-family, and pro-woman organization in the world.
As a non-profit, educational apostolate, HLI takes a total approach to the life issues from the moment of natural fertilization to the moment of natural death.
Teaching sex education to pupils, the DepEd has “vested interest” to tell the general public, students and parents that it should be done to control “over-population,” poverty and “lack of resources,” she added.
These are again “myths” and “misconceptions” of DepED, said Monzon who is also a professor of bio-ethics and internal medicine-cardiology at the University of the Santo Thomas (UST).
The DepEd thinks that with its re-introduction effort of sex education, it can reduce “teenage pregnancy,” it is a miscalculation to think of that, she added.
The other day Education Secretary Jesli A. Lapus announced that DepEd is set to re-introduce sex-education in public schools despite Catholic Church’s stiff resistance.
In 2006, funded by the Australian Aid for International Development and the United Nations Fund for Population Awareness, DepEd tried to introduce some of the sex-education modules in public schools on an experimental basis, but it postponed the effort after it got strong criticisms from influential Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, pro-life groups, Non-Government Organizations among others.
Some of these groups demanded for the revision of the modules. So, DepEd initiated to review and reintroduce.
According to Lapus, once the Presidential Council on Values Formation (PCVF), which is presently studying the secondary teachers’ “adolescent reproductive health manuals,” gives go-ahead signal, his office is determined to implement it.
The revised sex education modules tagged as “Secondary Teachers’ Toolkit on Adolescent Reproductive Health” and “Patnubay sa Pagtuturo ng Araling Adolescent Reproductive Health para sa Alternative Learning System” are compiled after nationwide consultations.
The DepEd’s sex education module was first introduced in elementary and high schools in 1972s. The focus was on sex education and population development.
The module was revised in 1994, as the “Lesson Plan on Adolescent Reproductive Health” which dealt with premarital sex and sexually transmitted diseases.
After having a meeting with delegates of the CBCP, the DepEd decided to review the modules in 2000.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo under Executive Order No. 314 dated April 30, 2004 created PCVF, which is under the aegis of the Office of the President.
PCVF’s aims to “serve as the lead agency by which government may work hand in hand with civil society and the private sector in the establishment of a strong foundation for moral value formation in the government bureaucracy.”
In 2006, the Arroyo government withdrew its sex education curriculum which was on test-run in several government schools, as CBCP strongly opposed the idea saying it would yield students to experiment in sex more.
Although DepEd’s newly drafted sex-ed modules are based on “health and science perspectives” on reproductive health, there are “hidden agenda,” and one of them is to support pharmaceutical companies for the proliferation of their artificial birth-control products and teach pupils false ideas of sexuality, Monzon said.
Teaching sex education is the prerogative of parents, not of DepEd, said Lily Perez, a lay coordinator of Pope John Paul II Natural Family Planning Center, which is an arm of the Ministry for Family and Life of the Manila Archdiocese.
“Let parents do their job to teach their kids the importance of sex and its responsibility and let DepEd not snatch that parents’ role,” she said.
Parents should be empowered and equipped to teach sex education to their children, Perez stressed. (Santosh Digal)
source::
|
|
