Sex Education: The solution to the growing rates of teen pregnancy and HIV/AIDS

cases

By: Leila Margrethe Trivilegio

Sex Education is basically education about sexuality, contraceptives, how to

prevent sexually transmitted diseases, the importance of protection, and attitudes and
principles towards sex. Being educated about sex gives the youth an idea of what is
right from wrong and how a simple decision can change or affect your future.

Sex has always been a sensitive topic whether it is talked about in school, at
home, or anywhere. Teenagers need information and the right sources to help and
protect themselves. Absence of sufficient information leads to turning to media,
pornography or even exploring too much out of their comfort zone to get the information
as their parents or the school system is not open enough to talk about sex. Nowadays,
teens get pregnant in an early age and get HIV because of the lack of proper sex
education. According to the Commission on Population, nearly 200,000 Filipino teens
get pregnant annually. A UNAIDS Report on the global HIV epidemic states that the
number of new infections in the Philippines has more than doubled in the past six years
from an estimated 4,300 in 2010 to an estimated 10,500 in 2016. “In January 2019,
there were 1,249 newly confirmed HIV-Positive individuals reported to the HIV/AIDS &
ART Registry of the Philippines.” said by the DOH- Epidemiology Bureau. This may look
like a low rate for these cases but the problem is it is continually growing and people are
still ignorant and choose to be ignorant because they are scared to accept that these
are really happening in the society and they lack of open-mindedness.

A lot of people, especially parents disagree with having comprehensive Sex

Education in schools because they believe that their child will get exposed to sex too
much and will be more encouraged to do it but Sex Education teaches the opposite. It
ensures the child’s healthy sexual development and educates them with sufficient and
reliable data about their bodies and the proper behavior towards sex.
 Therefore, I believe that there is a need to implement Sex Education in the
school system. Not to expose students to Sex but to teach them how it can affect one’s
life and how they can prevent getting sex-transmitted diseases. “Respondents who had
received instruction on both abstinence and birth control were older at first sex than
their peers who had received no formal instruction and were more likely to have used
condoms or other contraceptives at first sex; they also had healthier partnerships.” the
Guttmacher Institute explains. There are a lot of advantages and reasons why Sex
Education should be taught at the earliest age possible. First, it helps students
understand their bodies and would prepare them for change during puberty. Second,
they will not be ashamed of talking about it and would refrain from saying rude jokes
about sex. Third, Sex Education introduces risks and effects that can arise in improper
sexual behavior.

Considering the exposure of the youth to media today, accessing information

cannot be controlled. Sex can be and has been portrayed in movies, pornography and
other places in an exaggerated manner which can lead to the unclear messages about
sex. This is one of the reasons why Sex Education should be taught at school so that
children do not misinterpret sex and go to the internet to feed their curiosities about it.

In conclusion, Sex Education should not only be taught at school but also at
home. Being “woke” and open-minded is better than being ignorant because sex is
everywhere and knowing about it will eventually reach the youth any moment in their life
so it is better to prepare them with knowledge about it instead of avoiding the topic and
risking them to learning about Sex all by themselves and letting them explore beyond
what they should know and experience. In this way, Sex Education can help children to
be more confident in their sexual development and apply safety measures to avoid risks
and negative effects of of early sexual activity such as teenage pregnancy and
HIV/AIDS.