Albay Representative Edcel Lagman. RYAN LEAGOGO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — The Reproductive Health Bill, once enacted into law, will educate roughly 7.5 million students in the country.
Citing data from the Department of Education, Albay Representative Edcel Lagman said that the mandatory age and development appropriate reproductive health education would benefit an initial 7.5 million adolescents enrolled in grade 6 and high school.
Adolescents are defined in the RH Bill as “young people between the ages of ten [10] and nineteen [19] years who are in the transition form childhood to adulthood.”
Lagman, the main proponent of the bill at the House of Representatives, believes that more would benefit from RH education if it starts earlier than Grade 6. He said that this was appropriate because “the period of adolescence starts at an age lower than those of sixth graders.”
RH education is expected to be rolled out during the next school year once the bill is signed into law by President Benigno Aquino III.
Under the measure, the Department of Education will formulate a curriculum for public schools which may also be used by private schools to ensure that their students are not deprived of RH education.
Lagman pointed out that studies by the United Nations and countries where RH education was being implemented showed the following results:
1) proper sexual values are inculcated in the young;
2) entry into sexual relations is delayed;
3) abstinence before marriage is encouraged;
4) multiple sexual partners are avoided; and
5) the spread of sexually transmitted infections is prevented.