SWS poll on ROTC: 42% want it optional, 35% want it compulsory, 22% don’t want it in curriculum

Nearly half of Filipinos said that the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program should be optional for students instead of mandatory, according to the latest poll released by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) on Thursday.

The SWS survey, conducted from March 26 to 29, found that 42% of Filipinos said that ROTC should be optional as a course or community service.

A little over a third or 35% said that ROTC should be a compulsory course for Senior High School (SHS) students, or Grades 11 and 12, while 22% said that ROTC should not be in the curriculum at all.

Mandatory ROTC for SHS students had the highest approval among Visayas respondents with 46%, followed by Mindanao with 34%, Balance Luzon with 32%, and the National Capital Region (NCR) with 29%.

Both Visayas and NCR, however, had the highest support for the choice that ROTC should not be included in the curriculum at all, with both 25%, followed by Mindanao with 22% and Balance Luzon with 21%.

Optional ROTC as a course or community service had the highest approval in Balance Luzon with 47% , followed by NCR with 46%, Mindanao with 42%, and Visayas with 28%.

The first quarter 2023 SWS survey was conducted from March 26 to 29 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults aged 18 and above nationwide. It has a sampling error margin ±2.8%.

The Senate bill making the ROTC program mandatory for students in higher education institutions (HEIs) and technical-vocational institutions (TVIs) is now up for plenary debates.

Under the bill, the mandatory basic ROTC program will cover all students enrolled in not less than two-year undergraduate degree, diploma, or certificate programs in HEIs and TVIs. The program will be undertaken for four semesters.

Students who fail to undergo the ROTC program will not qualify for graduation.

Educational institutions that fail to institute and implement basic ROTC will face disciplinary and administrative sanctions from the Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. — BM, GMA Integrated News