COTABATO CITY, Philippines – A member of the legislative assembly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) rejected a proposal of the Department of Education to use ARMM province as a pilot area for its sex education module in elementary and secondary schools.
Assemblyman Ziaurrahman Adiong said the planned inclusion of ARMM by DepEd in the United Nations Population Fund project that would initially tap the services of 159 public schools (80 in the elementary and high school, 79), only showed “Imperial Manila’s unilateral imposition of the UNFPA without regard to the sensitivity of the Muslim culture and practices.”
Adiong said his other Muslim colleagues in the Assembly have been contemplating filing a resolution to exclude ARMM provinces from the new sex curriculum which would be compulsory for Grades V and VI and high school students in public schools.
“There should have been public consultation first before launching the sex education project, especially conservative areas where inhabitants are so sensitive to matters concerning population control,” said Adiong, a native of Lanao del Sur that happens to be DepEd’s pilot-testing area on sex education.
The other affected ARMM provinces are Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi while the rest of the pilot areas include Sultan Kudarat in Central Mindanao; Olongapo City, Mountain Province, Ifugao and Masbate in Luzon; Bohol and Eastern Samar in the Visayas.
The Regional Legislative Assembly’s initial opposition to the sex-education, according to Adiong, borders on the absence of teaching modules, which when introduced might touch Muslims’ culture and religious practices.
“Proponents of the sex-education program should be rational and considerate to the Islamic conservative look at sex being introduced among the young,” said Adiong, whose brother Ansarrudin, acting ARMM governor, appears mum on the issue.
Education officials have assured that the program would not be coercive as it tries to introduce lessons on reproductive health, personal hygiene, proper peer behavior and unwanted pregnancy.
