Senate bill requires community service for students from elementary to college

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago wants students to start early in rendering service to their community.

“Service to the community is a responsibility of all Filipinos, regardless of their economic level or age...Students, from kindergarten to college, offer a powerful and largely untapped resource for community service,” Santiago said in the explanatory note of her Service to the Philippines bill.

“Serving others builds self-esteem and teaches teamwork, decision-making, and problem-solving...Children who become engaged in community service early will understand better the responsibilities of citizenship and often continue to serve the community into adulthood,” Defensor added.

The measure requires the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education, National Youth Commission, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DWSD) and other government agencies to establish a national program that shall “provide service opportunities for students and out-of-school youth.”

“Such comprehensive program shall provide productive work with visible community benefits in a natural resource or human service setting and give participants a mix of work experience, basic and life skills education, training, and support services,” the bill states.

The bill also requires the national program to be incorporated into the curriculum as a separate subject and shall “require students, before they are allowed to graduate from elementary, high school, or college, as the case may be, to render community service by participating in the program.”

The bill also states that the national program should include goals that are quantifiable, measurable, and show benefits to the participants and the community.

“Through community service, students will gather firsthand experience in the country’s social realities.This program will help the youth fulfill their role in nation-building,” Santiago said in a statement.

Currently, only college students are required to render community service through the National Service Training Program. — Elizabeth Marcelo/JDS, GMA News