A Marine trains a group of students enrolled in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) on how to handle a rifle. A Senate bill is seeking to revive mandatory ROTC, but this could be hampered by a lack of military personnel to conduct the training. (File photo by MARIANNE BERMUDEZ / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — More than half of college freshmen and senior high school students in Catholic schools are against the restoration of the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program, according to a survey run by the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP).
An organization of over 1,500 Catholic schools, CEAP reported that 53 percent of over 20,000 students from member schools who answered its three-weeklong online survey from April 3 to 24 disagreed with proposals to revive the school-based military training program.
On the other hand, 28 percent of the respondents agreed with the proposals while 19 percent were undecided.
The ROTC military program used to be compulsory for all male college students until it was made optional in 2002.
The most common reasons given by the students who wanted ROTC were that the program would teach “basic military training, physical exercise, disaster preparedness, and civic engagement” (68 percent), that it would teach “patriotism and nationalism” (46 percent) and that the program would “compensate students” for their military uniform and related attire.