Under the NSTP Program, both male and female college students of any
bachelor's degree 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 and
numeracy skills to schoolchildren and
out-of-school youths. The hope is to continue learning on a peer-to-peer interaction. •
Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) :This program component is designed to provide
military education and training 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 (DND), the
Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and
Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (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 on December 21, 1935. It provided for obligatory
military service 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 on June 27, 1991. The Reservist Act provided for organization, training and utilization of
reservists, referred to in the Act as "Citizen Soldiers". The primary pool of manpower for the reservist organization are graduates of the
Reserve Officers' Training Corps basic and advance courses. ==Statistics==