FUTILE PROPOSAL: ‘Gender segregation will not curb teenage pregnancies’

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

SEPARATING male and female students during school classes will not reduce cases of teenage pregnancy, two lady officials said on Monday.

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) VI Regional Director Ro-Ann Bacal said she does not see the point of how gender separation in classrooms could help curb the cases of teenage pregnancy in the country.

“What would the separation do, when there is still interaction in the campus, interaction among students having the same courses? I don’t know how much more it would help reduce pregnancy,” Bacal said in an interview on Monday.

Recently, the National Youth Commission (NYC) chairman Ryan Enriquez proposed the separation of class sections for female and male students in Grades 7 to 12 to curb the rising number of teen pregnancies and HIV cases.

Enriquez emphasized in interviews that male and female students in the same class sections are at risk of engaging in sexual activities, especially when they do projects and other school-related work in their houses where sexual activities usually take place.

Instead of gender separation in classrooms, Bacal emphasized that it is more important to focus on enlightening and educating the youth on these critical issues.

Bacal said exposing teenagers to stories of teenage pregnancies will make them understand that their future is at risk when they engage in such activities.

“Ang importante siguro is for the students to realize that they put their future at risk. It would be good if we invite teenagers who experienced that path and they can become our spokesperson to show nga budlay gaeskwela nga may ara ka anak i-take care. It divides your schooling and your responsibility as father or mother. It would be good if more of their stories are heard by the young,” she added.

Meanwhile, Iloilo City lone district Rep. Julienne “Jam-jam” Baronda is also against the gender separation in classrooms.

According to Baronda, one’s gender cannot dictate the potential of an individual.

“I don’t want to be sexist eh because ako ya nagapati ko. Ang kakayanan sang isa ka tawo indi lang mabase kay isa siya ka babaye or lalaki. Regardless, if babae ka or lalaki kon may respeto ka, mayo ang (contribution) mo sa community,” she said.

Moreover, being exposed to all the structures of the community is critical in molding the children, Baronda added.

“After all, ang pag-mold mo sa isa ka bata, kinahanglan may babayi, lalaki, nga structure sa community. I believe damo pa ya nga problema ang tutukan sang both houses compared sa ina nga problema,” she added.

About 500 teenage girls give birth in the Philippines every day as more adolescents engage in premarital sex, a Commission on Population (POPCOM) report said on Thursday, raising concerns about early and unplanned pregnancies in the world’s 13th most populated country.

Teenage pregnancy rate in the country declined to 8.7 percent in 2017 from 10.2 percent in 2016, but the number still remains high, POPCOM executive-director Juan Antonio Perez told reporters on the sidelines of a World Population Day Forum in Quezon City.

According to the results of the 2013 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), one in ten young Filipino women age 15-19 have begun childbearing where 8 percent are already mothers and another 2 percent are pregnant with their first child.

Among young adult women age 20 to 24, 43 percent are already mothers and 4 percent are pregnant with their first child.

Despite the decrease in the teenage pregnancy rate from 10.2 percent in 2016 to 8.7 in 2017, according to the Commission on Population (POPCOM) around 196,000 Filipino girls between the ages of 15 and 19 years old get pregnant each year.

Bacal noted the importance of teenagers finishing schooling and becoming productive members and assets of the society instead of becoming liabilities.

“At risk ang mother when she’s pregnant also lalo na if she is still very young since she might not finish on time which means that she will remain a dependent individual and dependent siya sa parents niya. We would like the students to concentrate and finish schooling and immediately become productive members of the society and become assets of society and not become liabilities of society,” she said.