The Department of Education (DepEd) should suspend its implementation of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said Tuesday.

During the hearing of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Gatchalian said the implementation of the CSE under the DepEd Department Order (DO) No. 31 was not in line with the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health, which provides that only students aged 10 to 19 were required to have sex education.

“It was expanded all the way to kindergarten which is different from the intention of the framers of the RH law,” said Gatchalian, chairperson of the panel.

Gatchalian stressed that teachers should be using “culturally-sensitive” reference materials in teaching sex education.

He cited that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education, which was identified as one of the reference materials for teachers, said that it should begin as early as five years old.

“Are they (teachers) trained to be culturally sensitive and these type of materials should not be taught in their classrooms?” Gatchalian asked.

“The DO 31 calls for kindergarten all the way to grade 12. Do you see the disconnect?” he added.

Assistant Education Secretary Janir Datukan assured lawmakers that they did not adopt the UNESCO’s CSE guide in its entirety.

“We here at DepEd did not adapt it in its entirety, we used it as a basis for creating or crafting our own curriculum for CSE that is age-appropriate, developmentally appropriate, and that is culturally-sensitive which also covers religious beliefs and other orientations,” Datukan said.

In response, Gatchalian said: “We understand that it’s up to the teacher now, correct? To be culturally sensitive. So training is very important.”

“If you ask me, my own personal opinion, if this is a source of confusion then let’s suspend for now. Until we fix it and make sure it that it’s clear from the policymakers and stay faithful to the RH law,” he added.

According to an official from the Commission on Population, the number of live births in girls aged 10 to 14 rose by 35.13 percent in 2022 to 3,135 from 2,320 in 2021. Jaspearl Tan/DMS