DepEd-7, POPCOM-7 work together vs teenage pregnancy
Starting this month, secondary schools across Central Visayas will be immersed with talks and discussions on how to prevent teenage pregnancy.
The Department of Education-7 has adopted the program of the Commission on Population-7 dubbed as “Heart to H.E.A.R.T. Talk”. DepEd-7 director Dr. Julieta Jeruta said the program is both educational and entertaining for the students.
“This activity intends to educate high school students on the importance of delaying sexual debut and fight shy early encounters (or premarital sex) to avoid getting pregnant at a young age through film showing and short discussions in line with the mantra, 'learning while having fun'," she wrote in a memorandum directing all schools division superintendents and other stakeholders to support and assist the reactivation of the program.
The "Heart to H.E.A.R.T. Talk" program, which is a brainchild of POPCOM-Region 7, was launched last year and was then replicated by other offices all over the country.
The initiative was framed out of the agency's desire to bring up the relevant “heart” issues that are prevalent among adolescents.
These problems are spelled out in the term H.E.A.R.T. which stands for: HIV/AIDS/ STI; Early sexual encounters; Adolescent sexuality; Reproductive Health; and Teenage pregnancy prevention.
POPCOM- 7 earlier collaborated with DepEd-7 asking for the latter's support and the partnership was proven effective.POPCOM-7 director Atty. Bruce Ragas recognized the vital role of DepEd-7 in strengthening the information campaign as the agency reached a huge number of students.
Ragas said the regional agency was able to engage around 20,000 students in various schools in the region and conduct at least 121 talks or sessions.
The talk is a two-hour session composed of film showing and short discussions. Schools only need to prepare a classroom, preferably an audio visual room or computer lab, and the student participants.
Because of its success, Ragas said POPCOM-7 intends to continue the program and instead of holding it just on February, the talks will now be implemented whole year round to reach out more teenagers