Youth, student leaders score Marcos for mandatory ROTC, snubbed education crises

Wazzup Pilipinas!?


A joint statement of Akbayan Youth, Student Council Alliance of the Philippines (SCAP) and Bukluran ng mga Progresibong Iskolar (Bukluran) Marcos’ concern for the education sector is as fake as his Oxford diploma. 

Amid a crisis on student dropouts and mental health problems, Marcos’ solution is to add to the burden of students by forcing them to go under ROTC. 

During the height of the pandemic, more than 4 million students have dropped out of their schools. More than half of students reported that online classes have affected their mental health. 

Marcos’ priority on mandatory ROTC shows that he is out of touch with the needs of the youth and students. He vows to end horror stories on educational materials but failed to provide a plan to improve competencies on science, math and reading where Filipino students rank lowest globally. 

The youth and students will ensure that mandatory ROTC won’t be revived from the dead and that real solutions to the education crises happen: increasing the education budget to the global standard, ensuring mental health support for students, improving quality of education, and protection of students rights and welfare.