Knowledge and Perception of Selected High School Students with Regards to Sex Education and its Content

A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the School of Education Ateneo de Davao University

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Bachelor of Secondary Education, Major in English

Charles Balinggao, Jr. Valene Hope R. Cebuco Jeanne Claudine S. Manos Jeffren P. Miguel Lovely Mae S. Prieto

December 2012

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Sex education is a broad term used to describe education about human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, and other aspects of human sexual behavior (Science Daily, 2012). Sex education is not all about love making, according to former secretary Mona Valisno of DepEd, it focuses on the science of reproduction, physical care and hygiene, correct values and the norms of interpersonal relations to avoid premarital sex and teen-age pregnancy,(Malipot, 2010). In the Philippines, Department of Education decided to integrate sex education to different subjects in the basic curriculum such as Science, Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan (EPP), and Heograpiya, Kasaysayan, at Sibika. For instance, under Science is the teaching of the body parts, reproductive system and the puberty stage while matters concerning proper behavior among or between peers of different gender are being taught in EPP (Malipot, 2010). According to Valisno as cited by Cueto (2010), this decision of integrating sex education in the curriculum is due to the rising numbers of teenage pregnancies in the country. About 46 percent of pregnancies involved teenagers ranging in age from 15 to 17 and majority of them came from the disadvantaged class of society.

In a research made by Fontanilla (2003), only one-fourth of the 11,000 Filipino youth surveyed have enough knowledge about sex, 1.8 million Filipino youth is at risk of becoming young parents, 18 percent or 2.5 million Filipino youth with ages 15-24 had engaged to premarital sex and 1.67 million Filipino youth confessed that they are unwilling and unprepared to become parents. The department believes that sex education would be of great help in curbing the number of teenage pregnancies. In an interview with Mrs. Remedios Arroyo - Loque, MAVE, Values Education teacher in Davao City National High school, and Mrs. Yvonne Sanchez, MAPEH teacher from the same school, they said that sex education is being integrated in subjects such as Values Education, MAPEH, and TLE. They also said that the integration of sex education in the lessons starts from second year to fourth year high school. The topics covered in the integration of sex education in second year and third year high school lessons focuses more on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and other sexually transmitted diseases and infections. While second year and third year students receive discussions on how to take good care of the reproductive system, the integration of sex education in fourth year lessons highlight more the topics on marriage and family planning.

But the integration of sex education in the curriculum, according to Braincotour (2007), did not go well during its trial, for it received different reactions from the Philippine society especially from Catholic Bishops

Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). CBCP strongly believes that the responsibility of educating the youth about sex is that of the parents and that integrating sex education in the curriculum would just persuade teenagers to engage in premarital sex instead of actually avoiding it. Another reaction, according to Cueto (2010), came from concerned parents who went together to the Regional Trial Court, Quezon City to sign their petition against the implementation of the integration of sex education in the basic curriculum, especially after knowing that modules for the said program is introducing non-invasive sexual activities. The facts gathered prompted the researchers to look into the content of sex education to determine the learning extent of high school students. Furthermore, the researchers would like to know the knowledge and perception of high school students with regards to sex education and its content.