TEENAGE PREGNANCY | DepEd assures new strategies to deal with rising adolescent pregnancies

February 16, 2024 , 09:31 PM

By Clarist Zablan

(February 16, 2024) – The Department of Education (DepEd) is finding new approaches and strategies to deal with the rising incidence of teenage pregnancy, an education official said on Friday.

Assistant Secretary Dexter Galban said there is a need for the government to update its strategies to address teenage pregnancies due to the rising usage of social media in recent years, which has made unregulated content such as pornography more easily accessible.

“Ang ginagawa po natin ngayon, nagre-retool po tayo, nag-aadjust po tayo ng approach as strategies para masakop natin ‘yung mas malaking bahagi ng mga naaapektuhan, particularly because the time before at ‘yung time ngayon ay magka-iba na,” Galban said on CignalTV’s One PH channel’s program “Sa Totoo Lang.”

The education department has also launched online resources such as comprehensive sexuality education to make these content more freely available to the public, he said.

“You have easy access to potentially dangerous material online nang walang regulation. So ‘yun ‘yung mga bagong threats na kailangan nating bigyan ng sagot, and that’s when we have to provide them with alternative resources. Kaya na-online na din kami, to provide a counter narrative doon sa kakulangan ng regulation,” Galban said.

The Commission on Population and Development (CPD) had sounded the alarm on the growing number of live births from girls under 15 years old – which increased from 2,320 in 2021 to 3,135 in 2022 based on figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The CPD executive director, Lisa Grace Bersales, urged legislators to prioritize passing a measure to prevent adolescent pregnancies in the country.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) had also voiced concerns on the rise of teenage pregnancies in the Philippines, warning that this problem poses a risk on the health, education, and quality of life of many adolescent girls in the country.

“UNFPA Philippines’ ongoing Longitudinal Cohort Study on the Filipino Child also provides strong evidence that adolescent pregnancy perpetuates intergenerational poverty and poor education and nutrition outcomes,” the UN agency said in a statement on February 7.

A measure proposing a national policy on adolescent pregnancy was unanimously approved by the Lower House on third and final reading last year.

In the Upper House, a counterpart measure remained pending second reading at the plenary.

In 2022, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian also urged his colleagues to open an inquiry into the issue of adolescent pregnancies.

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