Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sonny Angara on Tuesday, Jan. 28, said that the agency can make do with a temporary suspension of the controversial Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) while it is under review.
Angara made the remark after Senator Sherwin Gatchalian stated during the hearing of the Senate Committee on Basic Education that he's for the temporary suspension amid the confusion among policymakers and implementers.
During the hearing, Gatchalian quizzed DepEd Assistant Secretary Janir Datukan about references and whether the teachers are trained on what to use when teaching sexual education per DepEd Order (DO) No. 31.
"Ang tanong ko nga, natrain ba sila that they should be culturally sensitive? And these type of materials should not be taught in our classrooms? (My question is, were they trained to be culturally sensitive? And should this type of material not be taught in our classrooms?)" Gatchalian asked.
The senator was referring to the UNESCO guidelines which state that children aged five to six years old under key stage 1 should be taught that there is a need "for humans to enjoy their bodies [as well as] and being close to others throughout their life."
However, Datukan said that the UNESCO document provides the framework for the implementation of CSE but then again, at DepEd, they did not adopt it in its entirety and used it as a basis for creating or crafting their curriculum for CSE that is age-appropriate, that is developmentally-appropriate and that’s culturally sensitive.
He added that this also covers religious beliefs and other orientations.
In line with this, Gatchalian said that it's now up to the teacher to be culturally-sensitive, stressing that training is very important as well as clarity on the policy.
"Because if you are confused from the top, rest assured that the teacher will also be confused. Because they are the ones tasked to implement all the way to our last classroom in our country. So that’s why, if you ask me my own personal opinion , if this is a source of confusion, then let’s suspend it for now,” said Gatchalian.
Angara said that they cannot permanently suspend the CSE's implementation since it's mandated by law.
"Certainly to correct certain flaws pointed out by the legislators, to ensure na age-appropriate nga siya, maybe we can do that. Kaunting corrections, tweaking," Angara said in a chance interview.
He believes that a lot of the fears are from what they think might happen, not from what’s happening.
Yet Angara mentioned concerns on whether the interventions are age-approriate are very valid especially when it comes to those in kinder to grade 3, which might be too young to talk to about comprehensive sexuality.
When it comes to changing the name "CSE", he said that they’ll find more neutral terms and ensure more age-appropriate concepts.
"Pwede ngang reproductive health education. Pwedeng comprehensive health education. We’re very open to the terms to be used. We realized that some terms may cause certain triggers, may association in certain contexts. Kami ay flexible dyan," he said.
Angara also mentioned that he sees nothing wrong with teaching children about their sexuality or gender identity since "I think when it comes to reproductive health, it’s pretty clear what the role of gender is."
He clarified, however, that it's still being implemented and that they're not going to do a major overhaul and what they’re after is to change some concepts and wordings.
"CSE is something being done in many countries. The fact na ginagamit siya medyo feeling lang ng iba na loaded sya kasi it’s taught in a certian way in different countries. Ang kinakatakutan nila yon din pagkaturo dito (The fact that it's being used makes others feel like it's loaded because it's taught in a certain way in different countries. They're worried that it will be taught the same way here)," he said.
"Ang garantiya natin di natin gagayahin yon. We will do whatever is appropriate for our context sa bansa sa kultura natin. Kung ano ung akma, yon ang gagawin natin (Our guarantee is that we will not copy that. We will do whatever is appropriate for our country's context and culture. We will do what is suitable)," he added.