President Duterte has ordered the Department of Education (DepEd) to boost school programs aimed at increasing awareness on disaster risk reduction among the youth amid the rising number of teenage pregnancies in evacuation centers.

“The President is concerned on the increasing number of teenage pregnancies in the country,” DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones said in a press briefing at Malacañang on Friday.

Briones said they observed that teenage pregnancies are associated with disasters such as typhoons.

“We have noticed that there is a spike in teenage pregnancies in disaster-prone areas because people have to stay in makeshift shelters for months,” she said.

“We have noticed this in Davao and Tacloban, which were hit by typhoons,” Briones said.

According to Briones, the DepEd will undertake programs that will equip the students and their families on how to respond to disasters.

“Children and the elderly are the usual victims of natural calamities so we are also enhancing our programs to respond to disasters and to protect the youth,” she said.

President Duterte also pushed for programs that will promote gender equality among government officials, especially members of the Cabinet.