cwts on enhancement of civic consciousness

8/17/2019 CWTS on Enhancement of Civic Consciousness

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CWTS on Enhancement of Civic ConsciousnessBy Roy B. Bergonia

To give an overview, the Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS), Literacy

Training Service (LTS) and Reserved Officers Training Cor!s (ROTC) are the

com!onents of the "ational Service Training #rogram ("ST#)$ %t is mandated &y law(Re!u&lic 'ct *+) that every ili!ino students, in tertiary education, must ta-e the

course !rior to graduation$ .niversity of Santo Tomas offers the three com!onents of

"ST#$ Each ili!ino Thomasian students has to decide whether to ta-e ROTC in his

first year or CWTS/LTS during his second year$

The Re!u&lic 'ct states that CWTS refers to the !rograms or activities

contri&utory to the general &etterment of life for the mem&ers of the community or the

enhancement of facilities, es!ecially those devoted to im!roving health, education,

entre!reneurshi!, safety recreation and morals of the citi0enry$ %t aims to enhance the

civic consciousness of the students &ut does it really hel! in o!timi0ing the youths

understanding to the current state of the society1 Or should it &e removed in the

curriculum for it 2ust adds to the &urden of each student1 %s the social consciousness

that the !rogram im!arts to the students enough to let the !rogram stay 2ust as it is and

need not to &e modified1

The role of the youth in nation building. Our "ational 3ero, 4r$ 5ose Ri0al, once

said, 6The youth is the ho!e of the 7otherland$8 With their ca!a&ility to contri&ute to the

develo!ment and im!rovement of their nation, they must focus on &ringing the

advancement of resolving current social issues and understanding the effects of these

issues towards the union of the nation and its !eo!le$ What hinders them from

achieving this goal is the twining of the issues which ma-es it hard for the youth todetermine the flow of each social !ro&lem$ 9ut they must always -ee! in mind that

every !ro&lem has its own &eginning and ending$ 'nd therefore, the youths tas- is to

find its end$ CWTS !re!ares the youth to this tas- &y immersing the students to the

social reality so that the student should come to -now the actuality of the social

challenge and to amend their civic consciousness$

A Christian call and thomasian response. 7an is com!osed of soul, intellect and

will$ These com!onents !rovide man the ca!a&ility to thin-, to reason out things, and to

decide and carry out his decisions$ %t has &een the &asis of a!!roach on social concerns

which starts &y envisioning the main !ro&lem and the !ossi&le causes and then

e:!laining the scenario and overall flow of the issue$ 'nd lastly, to determine thea!!ro!riate action &y understanding the &asic foundation of these issues in order to

eradicate these !ro&lems$ 'lso, thomasians need the three thomasian core values;

com!etence, com!assion and commitment$ These convey the values which the

students must develo! during the ste! of !erforming their social res!onsi&ility$ They

should &e; Com!etent in attaining social awareness$ Com!assionate in !ursing !u&lic

welfare$ This concerns how the student feel a&out the !ro&lem, and how he finds his


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stance in !roviding service, advocacy and em!owerment$ Committed in civic

engagement which involves the tight !artici!ation in doing civil services as a social

res!onsi&ility$ CWTS !rovides students active involvement on social concerns with the

guide of Christian !rinci!les and thomasian identity$

National concerns. "ational concerns are !ersonal concerns$ What &urdens the

nation &urdens every single !erson$ %t is a fact that most !eo!le dont care of the

nations economy, its Chari0e 9uenavista$8

Community develo!ment !ertains to the collective effort of everyone in creating

solutions to address each !ro&lem$ This means that each mem&er of the society must

contri&ute to the !rogression of their community$ CWTS invo-es this this thought to the

students &y generating leadershi! towards civic involvement$ The students are !artially

immersed to the society through !rograms li-e feeding !rogram and wor-sho! for

children$ With these, they find reali0ation and actuali0ation of the !ro&lems which thecommunity currently faces$ They start to reflect and Buestion themselves and this leads

to what the to!ic is all a&out, civic consciousness$ 3o!efully they decide to act and

!artici!ate with these social issues &ecause awareness is 2ust not enough, actions are

needed$

Proect management and development $ 64igging u! a hard soil with lots of roc- in

it, along with the intense hot weather wasnt easy$ es, there was a lunch &rea- given


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and you can rest if youre feeling di00y or tired, &ut one thing % reali0ed is that 6%ts not for

me$8 %t is not for me, not for me to 2ust get high grades nor not for me to 2ust show off

what % am ca!a&le of doing$ > 5a0min "olaso$8 's % have said earlier, actions are

needed in order for an issue to &e resolved$ #ro2ect develo!ment relates to the

construction of a notion or conce!t$ %t is where actions are !rom!ted and develo!ed$

CWTS allows students to ta-e !art in the actuali0ation of the !ro2ects for community

develo!ment$ Students are hands=on to the !ro2ects which means they get to &einvolved directly to the !ro2ect$

"ow, should the course &e removed from the curriculum1 "o, totally no$ CWTS

has &een enhancing students consciousness on social issues, sha!ing their minds &y

!resenting the reality through immersion, and guiding them towards active involvement

through !artici!atory develo!ment$ %t is through CWTS that the youth is influenced to

act on social issues$ %t is &y CWTS that they learn the reality outside, the actual !ro&lem

of the community$ 3o!efully, the students learn the value of this course for it contains

the &asic foundation of social transformation, it is the -ey to the loc-ed doors of social

issues$ 'nd if students reali0e its im!ortance, !re!are for a massive transfigurationD

cwts on enhancement of civic consciousness

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