Reproductive health education has been integrated in the basic education curriculum under the K-12 program, the Department of Education (DepEd) said yesterday.

Students as young as seven years old – or those in Grade 1 – will now have “age-appropriate, developmental and culture-sensitive” sexuality education to ensure that they are protected from sexual exploitation.

The Department of Education (DepEd) has received more than P28.8 billion in donations from the private sector through its Adopt-A-School Program (ASP) from 2011 to 2015.

The program enables the private sector to assist the DepEd in improving the country’s public education system by investing, giving donations and adopting schools, especially those in the poorest provinces.

“Because of you and through you, change has come for our schools and our learners,” Mario Deriquito, DepEd Undersecretary for Partnerships and External Linkages, told donors during the recent ASP activity at the Meralco multi-purpose hall in Ortigas, Pasig City.

The government sets a benchmark today with the start of full implementation of the senior high school program, centerpiece of the contentious K to 12 education reform program of the Aquino administration.

Around 25 million students are expected to return to private and public elementary and high schools, including some 1.5 million who will join the first batch of students in Grade 11, which ushers in two additional years in basic education in the country.