The NSTP-CWTS Experience of De La Salle UniversityManila:
Teaching Minds, Touching Hearts, Transforming Lives
by Armen Ria H. Toquero, NSTP-CWTS
Center for Social Concern and Action, DLSU-Manila
A Call for Change
The National Service Training Program (NSTP), established through Republic Act (RA)
No. 9163, is a response to students’ clamor for changes in the Reserve Officers’
Training Corp (ROTC) program. The call for reforms was catalyzed by a student of
the University of Santo Tomas, Mark Welson Chua, who was brutally murdered after
courageously exposing corruption in the ROTC in 2001.
The NSTP offers non-military options to instill civic consciousness and patriotism in
the youth. It paves the way for female students to participate in nation-building
endeavors. Moreover, it provides students the opportunity to serve marginalized
communities through the Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS).
The law mandated full implementation of NSTP in School Year 2002-2003. For
DLSU-Manila, the CWTS component of NSTP is a gateway to social formation of firstyear Lasallian students. Embracing this charge implies developing appropriate
systems and policies and establishing partnerships with individuals, organizations,
and communities to accommodate the overwhelming number of students opting to
take the course. The NSTP-CWTS poses an imperative challenge to bring about
meaningful changes on the disadvantaged communities while molding students into
effective change agents.
The Change Journey
The Center for Social Concern and Action (COSCA) is the unit tasked to implement
the CWTS program in DLSU-Manila. The CWTS is in line with COSCA’s mission of
facilitating the social formation process among the members of the University to
make Lasallian education relevant and responsive to the needs and issues of
society.
The Change Framework
Being the first community service course to be taken by the students of the
University, COSCA has developed CWTS in the context of a broader student
formation and community empowerment process under its Curriculum Integration
Program (CIP). Hence, the CWTS addresses the first two levels of concern of the
progressive three-level framework of CIP (please refer to Figure 1).
Specifically, the CWTS in DLSU-Manila is implemented with two-pronged objectives:
 For Students: To instill the value of social action in their lives
 For Partner Communities: To enhance their capability to respond to
their needs through collaborative endeavors with the middle class youth
The NSTP-CWTS Experience of De La Salle University-Manila:
Teaching Minds, Touching Hearts, Transforming Lives
CEAP National Convention, September 15, 2005 - 2
Figure 1. Curriculum Integration Program Framework
The Change Process
The program is implemented in two phases: The Formation Phase (C1) and
Community Service Phase (C2). C1 equips the students with the necessary
knowledge, skills, and attitudes in doing community service while C2 enables
students to participate in the efforts of poor communities to address their needs.
Both phases make use of participatory learner-centered methodologies that build on
what the students know, feel, and believe.
The CWTS sessions are developmental and continuous, with one session building on
the other. The messages of C1 and C2 revolve around answering the following
questions:








What is ideal? What is God's design?
What is actually happening?
Why are there gaps/problems?
Who are the people affected?
What can we do as Lasallians?
How can we contribute in addressing the problem?
What have we learned?
What can we commit after CWTS?
Figure 2 graphically illustrates the conceptual framework of the whole course.
The NSTP-CWTS Experience of De La Salle University-Manila:
Teaching Minds, Touching Hearts, Transforming Lives
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Figure 2. Conceptual Framework of the CWTS Student Formation
The Change Partners
Unique to the CWTS Program of DLSU-Manila is the establishment of strategic
partnerships with community development practitioners and community-based
organizations.
Community development practitioners facilitate classroom and
exposure activities while partner organizations guarantee the readiness of partner
communities to work with students and guide students in project implementation.
Figure 3. Tripartite Partnership in CWTS Implementation
The NSTP-CWTS Experience of De La Salle University-Manila:
Teaching Minds, Touching Hearts, Transforming Lives
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Effecting Change
The program has established continuing partnerships with 44 partner-facilitators
and 26 partner organizations over the last three years. The joint efforts with
partners produced a total of 6,116 graduates. These graduates comprise about
80% of the NSTP graduates in the University. They were able to implement and
sustain at least 35 projects in 34 communities. An average of 1,554.5 individuals –
mostly children -- benefit from the projects per term. Most of these projects entail
the provision of educational and basic social services to community members.
The Changes in the Students
Among the graduates of CWTS in the last two years, 82.22% agreed that CWTS has
been effective in inculcating social action in their lives. Students have expressed:
better appreciation of doing community service work because of the course, belief
that the project implemented was worth spending time, money, and efforts for,
willingness to do community service for poor and deprived communities again,
finding the CWTS experience fulfilling and meaningful, and strengthening of belief
that students could contribute in the empowerment of poor and marginalized
communities/sectors.
The sense of fulfillment brought about by their involvement in CWTS projects has
moved some students to volunteer their services to the Lasallian Outreach
Volunteer Effort (LOVE), a student volunteer group organized and supervised by
COSCA’s Volunteer Formation Program. At present, 11% out of LOVE’s over 100
members claim that they have joined the group because of their positive experience
in CWTS.
The Changes in the Communities
In Camarin, Caloocan, parents describe how their children learned to read, write,
and do arithmetic from their Ates and Kuyas. Young children of overseas Filipino
workers (OFWs) cling to their DLSU tutors, seeking the attention they miss from
their parents in Escopa 3, Quezon City. In an indigenous people’s community in San
Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, people fetch water from a water reservoir in the
community instead of walking 2 kilometers to get water. The pipes used to connect
the water source to the reservoir were installed by CWTS students with the people
in the community. People there relate that there has been a significant decrease in
the number of diarrhea cases among children since the pipes were installed.
Beyond the program’s effect on the personal lives of community members,
community leaders also relate that collective actions have been strengthened in
their areas because of CWTS. At the same time, the CWTS program has enabled
them to expand and diversify their services and networks. The specific gains of the
CWTS in the community are found in Matrix B.
The NSTP-CWTS Experience of De La Salle University-Manila:
Teaching Minds, Touching Hearts, Transforming Lives
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Matrix B. Highlights of Program Benefits
Type of Project
Education and Training
(class-based and home-based
academic tutorials, children’s
workshops, training and seminars,
field-trips )
Health, Sanitation, and Waste
Management
Actual Benefits to the Community
⇒ Enhanced literacy skills of over 1,200 children in 15
communities
⇒ At least 80 children aware of their rights
⇒ At least 100 adults equipped with livelihood skills
⇒ Access to free medical and dental consultations in at least 5
communities
⇒ Provision of medical supplies for “Botika sa Barangay” in 4
communities
⇒ Clean-up drives conducted in at least 10 communities
⇒ Enhanced KSA of at least 100 community members on family
planning, waste management, and sanitation
Creative and Sports Activities for
the Youth
⇒ At least 100 youth in 5 communities participated in sports
Research
⇒ Community profiles prepared for 2 communities
⇒ Video documentary on the environmental conditions of a
clinics, sports fest, and arts and crafts workshops
farming community in Malolos, Bulacan
⇒ Survey and Report on Waste Disposal Practices in Tanay Rizal
Infrastructure
⇒ Improvement and construction of community pathways,
fences, railings, water system
Resource Mobilization
⇒ Provision of school/learning supplies and materials in 20
communities
⇒ Improved classroom facilities in day care and learning centers
(e.g., newly painted walls, setting up of mini libraries)
The Change Factors
The foregoing benefits would not have been achieved if not for the lessons from the
program experiences. Guided by these lessons, the CWTS has adopted the
following mechanisms:
Recruitment of community development (CD) practitioners to serve as
facilitators. The program has hired CD practitioners to handle the C1 and C2
sessions for one class. CD practitioners are more equipped to handle the sessions
because of their expertise and experience in community service and participatory
learning approaches.
Adoption of the participatory learner-centered approach in CWTS sessions.
The modules developed for the first year of CWTS were input-heavy. Since the aim
is to transform students into active change agents, the modules have been modified
to ensure that the processes for student formation would be transformative as well.
The sessions now build on the knowledge and experiences of students.
Concentration of efforts in nearby communities. There were more partner
communities based in the provinces when CWTS started. Given the limited time
and resources, it is more viable to concentrate and sustain the efforts in Metro
Manila communities and nearby provinces (i.e. Rizal, Laguna, Bulacan).
The NSTP-CWTS Experience of De La Salle University-Manila:
Teaching Minds, Touching Hearts, Transforming Lives
CEAP National Convention, September 15, 2005 - 6
Focusing on the service. In the beginning, the community service phase was
more concerned with the outputs than the time spent by the students in the
community. Now, more time is spent in the community doing something meaningful
as it produces more impact on both the students and the people there.
Recognizing the role of host families in student formation. Host families are
treated as “co-formators” in molding students into change agents because they
directly interact with students in the community.
Striking a balance between community needs and capability of students.
The needs of the community are enormous. But CWTS enrollees are first year
students who have not yet spent considerable time in college to gain the technical
capability related to their courses.
Hence, the projects implemented respond to
community needs that are within the capacity of students to address.
Building on the gains of previous projects. Projects of students produce more
impact if they build on the gains of previously implemented projects in the
community.
Consulting the program stakeholders. Students, community members, partner
organizations, and facilitators are regularly consulted on the program issues that
need to be resolved. Most of the CWTS strategies and policies were developed
based on the results of such consultations.
Changing Mind, Hearts, and Lives
The implementation of CWTS has evolved over the last three years. DLSU-Manila is
now focusing on charting out the long-term directions of the program in each
community and sustaining the gains achieved in the first three years. The
University, through CWTS, is realizing its commitment to teach the minds, touch the
hearts, and transform the lives not only of students but community members as
well:
By teaching minds, CWTS raises the level of awareness of the school’s mostly
middle to upper class students on the conditions of the poor and oppressed
sectors while equipping the members of partner communities with the technical
expertise needed to address their needs.
By touching hearts, genuine compassion among students for these
communities is instilled while giving community members hope for a better
future and faith in themselves.
By transforming lives, the program converts politically and socially indifferent
students into active volunteers and advocates while strengthening the collective
efforts among community members to develop their community/sector.
Having learned and gained so much from its CWTS experiences, DLSU-Manila is
positive that it will reap more rewards that will demonstrate the extent by which the
program can effect positive change in the minds, hearts, and lives of all those
involved in the program.
The NSTP-CWTS Experience of De La Salle University-Manila:
Teaching Minds, Touching Hearts, Transforming Lives
CEAP National Convention, September 15, 2005 - 7
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References:
Baclagon, Pedro Carlos. (2003). Gearing for Social Action: The Formation Manual for DLSUCWTS Facilitators. Unpublished.
Center for Social Concern and Action. (2003). Manual of Operations of the DLSU-Manila CWTS
Program. Unpublished.
DLSU-CWTS Program documents (2002 to 2005)
The NSTP-CWTS Experience of De La Salle University-Manila:
Teaching Minds, Touching Hearts, Transforming Lives
CEAP National Convention, September 15, 2005 - 8