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Policy Guidelines on the Implementation of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education | DepEd Order No. 31, s. 2018

To: Undersecretaries
Assistant Secretaries
Bureau and Service Directors
Regional Secretary, ARMM
Regional Directors
Schools Division Superintendents
Public and Private Elementary and Secondary School Heads
All Others Concerned

The Department of Education (DepEd) issues the enclosed Policy Guidelines on the Implementation of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), which aims to establish a common understanding of CSE key concepts and messages, and to ensure clear implementation of protocols in the CSE.

The rationale, legal bases, guiding principles, mechanisms, and procedures shall assist teachers, schools principals, and other education stakeholders in their endeavors to make teaching and learning more relevant, meaningful and useful to learners.

All DepEd Orders, and other related issuances, provisions, rules and regulations, which are inconsistent with these guidelines are hereby replaced, repealed, or amended accordingly.

These guidelines shall take effect immediately upon issuance.

Immediate dissemination of and strict compliance with this Order is directed.

(Sgd)LEONOR MAGTOLIS BRIONES
Secretary

References: DepEd Order: Nos. 36, s. 2016; and 58, s. 2017

DepEd Order No. 31, s. 2018

Policy Guidelines on the Implementation of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education

I. RATIONALE

The 2013 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study(YAFSS) conducted by the Demographic Research and Development Foundation, Inc. (DRDF) and University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI) revealed that the proportion of youth aged 15 to 24 who had early sexual encounters, increased from 23 percent in 2002 to 32 percent in 2013. The 2017 National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) also reported that the proportion of adolescent girls who had begun childbearing rises rapidly with age, from 1 percent at age 15 to 22 percent at age 19. The 2013 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) Report of the PSA has identified marriage as one of the top reasons for not attending school at 12.9 percent in a survey done amongst young people 6-24 years old. This is particularly highest in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Davao Region (Region XI) and Soccsksargen (Region XII). In addition, from January 1984 to February 2018, 28 percent of the reported cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were 15-24 years old according to the Department of Health (DOH). In 2016, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reported that these alarming incidents of risky sexual and social behaviors are further exacerbated by the prevalence of sexual violence among 17 percent of adolescents from 13 to 17 years old. The current situation of increasing early pregnancies, violence and increasing incidence of HIV among young Filipinos has brought more attention to the need to equip them with the correct information and appropriate life skills that would enable them to make responsible decision-making and respectful behavior that will protect their health, well-being and dignity. DepEd is committed to provide and protect the rights of Filipino learners to good education and improved health and to help Filipino learners complete basic education
without the burden of health concerns. It also recognizes the roles and responsibilities of the school system to give learners their right to good health by leading the implementation of the comprehensive sexuality education (CSE). In order to effectively address the needs of the learners for health and protection through education, CSE is designed to ensure that the learners are receiving comprehensive and appropriate information that can advance gender equality and empowerment. CSE has been shown to increase learners’ knowledge, clarify their values and attitudes, and develop the skills to reduce risks related to poor health outcomes and achieve their full potential.

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