The National Service Training Program (NSTP) is a civic education and defense preparedness program students instituted by the

Government of the Philippines The Government of the Philippines ( fil, Pamahalaan ng Pilipinas) has three interdependent branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Philippines is governed as a unitary state under a presidential representative and d ...

on 23 July 2001 by virtue of

Republic Act This article contains a partial list of Philippine laws. Sources of Philippine laws ;Notes : *Customs may be considered as supplementary source of law, however, customs which are contrary to law, public order or public policy shall not be ...

9163, otherwise known as the "National Service Training Program (NSTP) Act of 2001."

Coverage

Under the NSTP Program, both male and female college students of any

baccalaureate degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

course or technical vocational course in public or private educational institutions are obliged to undergo one of three program components for an academic period of two semesters. The students, however, are free to choose which particular program component to take. The three NSTP Program components are: * Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS) :This program component is designed to provide students with activities contributory to the general welfare and betterment of life of the members of the community especially those developed to improve social welfare services. * Literacy Training Service (LTS) :This program component is designed to train students in teaching

literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

and

numeracy Numeracy is the ability to understand, reason with, and to apply simple numerical concepts. The charity National Numeracy states: "Numeracy means understanding how mathematics is used in the real world and being able to apply it to make the bes ...

skills to schoolchildren and out-of-school youths. The hope is to continue learning on a peer - to - peer interaction. *

Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...

(ROTC) :This program component is designed to provide

military education and training Military education and training is a process which intends to establish and improve the capabilities of military personnel in their respective roles. Military training may be voluntary or compulsory duty. It begins with recruit training, proceed ...

for students to mobilize them for national defense preparedness. This is also a glimpse for young people to see how military life is and encourage them into service. Graduates of the ROTC program component are organized into the Citizen Armed Force, while graduates of the LTS and CWTS program components are organized into the National Service Reserve Corps (NSRC) administered by the

Department of National Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippi ...

, the Commission on Higher Education and

Technical Education and Skills Development Authority The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA ; fil, Pangasiwaan sa Edukasyong Teknikal at Pagpapaunlad ng Kasanayan) serves as the Philippines' Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) authority. As a government a ...

Precedents

There have been several legal precedents to the National Service Training Program (NSTP) Act of 2001. These include:

Commonwealth Act No. 1

Commonwealth Act No. 1, otherwise known as the "National Defense Act", was enacted by the

National Assembly of the Philippines The National Assembly of the Philippines ( tl, Kapulungáng Pambansâ ng Pilipinas, es, Asamblea Nacional de Filipinas) refers to the legislature of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1941, and of the Second Philippine Republic ...

on 21 December 1935. It provided for obligatory

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require a ...

for all male citizens of ages between 18 and 30.

Presidential Decree No. 1706

Presidential Decree No. 1706, otherwise known as the "National Service Law", was signed into law on 8 August 1980. It made national service obligatory for all Filipino citizens and specified three categories of national service: civic welfare service, law enforcement service and military service.

Republic Act 7077

Republic Act 7077, otherwise known as the "Citizen Armed Forces of the Philippines Reservist Act", was enacted by the 8th

Congress of the Philippines The Congress of the Philippines ( fil, Kongreso ng Pilipinas, italic=unset) is the legislature of the national government of the Philippines. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives of the Philippines, House of R ...

on 27 June 1991. The Reservist Act provided for organization, training and utilization of

reservist A reservist is a person who is a member of a military reserve force. They are otherwise civilians, and in peacetime have careers outside the military. Reservists usually go for training on an annual basis to refresh their skills. This person is ...

s, referred to in the Act as "Citizen Soldiers". The primary pool of manpower for the reservist organization are graduates of the

basic and advance courses.

Statistics

According to the Commission on Higher Education, over a ten-year period from 2002-2012 the CWTS component has produced 10,614,000 graduates, the highest among the three NSTP components. This is followed by the ROTC component, with 1,435,000 AFP reservists and the LTS component with 538,700 graduates.

References

{{reflist Conscription in the Philippines Education in the Philippines Presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo