Population office bares initiatives to address adolescent issuesILOILO CITY, March 2 (PNA) -- A public secondary school in this city with the help of the City Population Office (CPO) reached out to out-of-school youths through the “Kuwenthuhang Pangkabataanâ€.
Kuwenthuhang Pangkabataan is one of the strategies employed by the CPO under its Adolescent Health and Development Program to address issues concerning their age group, especially for OSYs.
“Through this we encourage OSYs to go back to school. In the youth sector, they are the most vulnerable because based on data of adolescents using family planning methods, majority of them are OSYs,†said Ramon Tentia Jr, population program officer II of the CPO.
The session was handled by the student government of the Jalandoni Memorial National High School (JMNHS) and the recipient OSYs came from Brgy. Don Esteban in Lapuz district.
Population Program Officer III Rachel C. Lapascua said that the Kuwenthuhang Pangkabataan aims to elevate the awareness of youths on responsible sexuality. During the activity, discussions focus on meaning of love and consequences of teenage pregnancy, among others.
CPO also adopted another strategy to reach out to in-school youths dubbed as “U4U Teen Trail†that was introduced by the Commission on Population. It was piloted in three public secondary schools and will be soon introduced to two additional public schools.
The pilot schools include the Fort San Pedro National High School (FSPNHS), Mandurriao National High School (MNHS) and the JMNHS. This year, CPO is planning to also introduce the program to the Ramon Avanceña National High School (RANHS) and the Iloilo City National High School (ICNHS).
Lapascua said that the U4U Teen Trail is an interactive and fun activity where students can engage through games and showcase of talents. It was first launched in Barangay Calumpang simultaneous with the opening of a teen center in the area.
The JMNHS, according to Tentia, recorded six cases of pregnant secondary students in 2014 but they have not monitored a single case since the U4U Teen Trail was introduced.
Recently, the CPO bared that cases of teenage pregnancy cases in this city dropped in 2016 when compared with previous years. Statistics showed that 1,753 teenager got pregnant in 2016, which is lower when compared with the 2,266 cases in 2014 and 2,351 in 2014. (PNA)
Linkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=85918.0