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

government of the Philippines The government of the Philippines () has three interdependent branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Philippines is Central government, governed as a unitary state under a presidential system, presidential representativ ...

on November 13, 2009, by virtue of Republic Act No. 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

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

course or technical vocational course in public or private higher 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 is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

and

numeracy Numeracy is the ability to understand, reason with, and apply simple numerical concepts; it is the numerical counterpart of literacy. The charity National Numeracy states: "Numeracy means understanding how mathematics is used in the real world ...

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. While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...

(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 Military personnel, personnel in their respective roles. Military training may be voluntary or compulsory duty. It begins with recru ...

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 A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

(DND), the

Commission on Higher Education The Commission on Higher Education (CHED; ) is a government agency under the Office of the President of the Philippines. It is responsible for regulating and governing all higher education institutions and post-secondary educational programs i ...

(CHED) and

Technical Education and Skills Development Authority The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA ; ) serves as the technical vocational education and training (TVET) authority of the Philippines. As a government agency, TESDA's goals are to develop the Filipino workforce with ...

(TESDA).

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 (, ) refers to the legislature of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1941, and of the Second Philippine Republic during the Japanese occupation. The National Assembly of the Commonwealth w ...

on December 21, 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 military, volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Few nations, such ...

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 August 8, 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 () is the legislature of the national government of the Philippines. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of an upper body, the Senate of the Philippines, Senate, and a lower body, the House of Representatives ...

on June 27, 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 ca ...

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

, 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