Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Elisea Gozun said Project ECO-CORPS seeks to enlist the active participation of tertiary level students in addressing environment-related concerns.
Gozun explained: "Considering the gravity of the country’s environmental problems, the government needs all the help it could get from the citizenry, and the youth provides a very potent force both in terms of number and their idealism to turn the tide of environmental destruction."
Asked how the DENR would recruit its environmental protection officers, Gozun said "it would be the ROTC way." She said, Project ECO-CORPS will be offered as an alternative menu for college students under the National Service Training Program (NSTP). Graduates of the ECO-CORPS could then be effective partners of the DENR and communities in environmental protection and management.
Speaking for Gozun, DENR Special Concerns Office Director Grace Favila said students who will take up this option will be given certificates by the DENR, which hopefully LGUs can recognize as a qualification for positions as environmental officers. The specially formulated curriculum will focus on community-based experience on environmental problems, and their solutions.
Since 2002, the ROTC has become an optional requirement for tertiary level education. Instead, the NSTP was established by virtue of Republic Act (R.A) No. 9163, consisting of three components, namely: ROTC, Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS) and the Literacy Training Service. Under this set-up, students are given the option to pursue activities falling under any of these three components for two semesters, or a summer.
Project ECO-CORPS, says Gozun, is being developed in such a way to satisfy the requirements of CWTS. Under section 3 (d) of RA 9163, CWTS refers to programs or projects contributory to the general welfare and the betterment of life for the members of the community, or the enhancement of its facilities, especially those devoted to improving health, education and environment, among others.
Relative to this, the DENR is currently working closely with the Philippine Association of Tertiary Level Educational Institutions in Environmental Protection and Management (PATLEPAM) for the development of a syllabus or learning modules on environment and natural resources.
Dr. Ruth Guzman, chairperson of the board of PATLEPAM, and vice-president for research, information and extension services of the Rizal Technological University (RTU), said among the topics included in the environmental syllabus are basic concepts of ecology and sustainable development, solid waste management, toxic chemicals and hazardous waste management, water resources management, urban forestry and biodiversity conservation. Guzman also added that the environmental modules will include community exposure/agency visits, community needs assessment and immersion in accordance with environmental issues discussed as their work plan is conceptualized.
Said syllabus will be pilot-tested in summer 2004 in five universities in Metro Manila, namely the University of Sto. Tomas, RTU, Philippines School of Business Administration, New Era University, and AMA Computer Learning Center-Roosevelt, and in Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila by school year 2004-2005.