MORE than half of Catholic school students are not in favor of the revival of the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program, according to an online survey conducted by the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP).
A recent report released by the CEAP said about 53 percent of the over 20,000 students of its member schools surveyed disagreed with the proposal to revive the mandatory ROTC.
“The survey showed that 53% of the respondents disagreed to bring back mandatory ROTC, with 32% of them saying they strongly disagree and 21% saying they disagree,” said the report.
On the other hand, about 28 percent of the respondents expressed agreement with the proposal pending in Congress.
“About 28% of the respondents said they agreed, with 22% of them saying they strongly agree, and only 6% saying they agree,” said CEAP.
The survey, conducted from April 3 to 24, showed that 19 percent are undecided or said they cannot say if they agree or disagree.
Among those who disagreed, the survey results showed that 54 percent said it would be an added burden to the students, while 42 percent said it would be an additional expense for their families.
At least 34% of those who disagreed said they are alarmed by the threat of violence and corruption, contradicts their religious belief (17%), and others, such as hazing/bullying and threat to safety (6%).
For those who agreed, the report showed that 68 percent said they wanted to learn basic military training, physical exercise, disaster preparedness, and civic engagement.
Other reasons for agreeing include learning patriotism and nationalism (46%), aims to compensate students, such as military uniform provision (45%), and helping instill discipline (7%).
The survey among 20,461 senior high school students was conducted amid moves in Congress to make the ROTC program mandatory again.
The CEAP is a national organization of Catholic educational institutions in the Philippines and has more than 1,525 member schools.
