FOLLOWING A two-year hiatus, the Office for Social Concern and Involvement (OSCI) has resumed its off-campus engagements for Loyola Schools (LS) students enrolled in National Service Training Program (NSTP) 11-Punla and 12-Bigkis.

OSCI expressed their hope to hold off-campus engagements in the second semester after the Vice President for the Loyola Schools issued a memo outlining the guidelines for these activities on September 2, 2022.

“The online (NSTP) programs have been pretty successful based on the evaluations. [However,] that still wasn’t the original design of the programs,” Assistant Vice President for Social Development, Environment, and Community Engagement Leland Dela Cruz, PhD said.

“Plus, it’s been a consistent feedback from students that they want to go back based on the evaluations that we’ve been receiving,” he added.

University coordination

The University considered the Commission on Higher Education’s March 2022 memorandum, which stated that off-campus off-campus activities were allowed with the approval of the involved Local Government Unit (LGU).

Prior to commencing these engagements, OSCI vetted the “physical spaces” where the program would be implemented.

According to OSCI Director Ophalle Alonzo-Pornela, the health status of the community was checked through their local health centers to guarantee no active COVID-19 cases in the area.

“As part of our protocol, OSCI also coordinates with the local Philippine National Policies assigned to the area to let them know of our activities,” Alonzo-Pornela emphasized.

Then, in order to check the compatibility of the communities and organizations, Alonzo-Pornela said that OSCI delves into a “social investigation” in terms of the community’s goals and missions. Following the joint memorandum of agreement, OSCI also orients the partner area on the programs’ policies, schedules, and activities.

To prepare the participating students, the Loyola Schools Office of Guidance and Counseling and the Office of Health Services then conducted assessments to ascertain students’ mental and physical wellbeing for off-campus engagements.

Alonzo-Pornela said that participating students were also required to attend an orientation and integration session which tackle their expectations, knowledge, skills, and schedules regarding their assigned area. Additionally, NSTP 12-Bigkis students had to attend training sessions to refine their social skills.

Notably, Alonzo-Pornela revealed that OSCI had to cease engagements with partner areas in Visayas and Mindanao, which were only feasible in the online setup.

LS students’ participation

The first semester’s run of NSTP 12-Bigkis off-campus activity engagements were limited to juniors from the School of Science and Engineering (SOSE) and the John Gokongwei School of Management (JGSOM).

The SOSE contingent was assigned to the City of Marikina LGU’s offices. Students were given the opportunity to work in the city’s Mega Vaccination Facilities, City Environment Management Office, and the Gender and Development Office.

According to the University’s report, the BS HSc, BS Bio, and BS LfSc participants accounted for 10.5% of these courses’ total student population.

Meanwhile, the JGSOM contingent of students from BS REnt were assigned to the Marikina Public Market. They had a significantly higher participation rate of 37%.

For NSTP 11-Punla and Binhi programs, respectively, the University said that 16 sophomores and 11 freshmen participated in the first off-campus engagement at the Marikina LGU’s Health Department.

Future of NSTP programs

According to the office, OSCI will be evaluating the program after the re-establishment of onsite activities in the first semester. From this, Alonzo-Pornela said that the results of the evaluation and the stakeholders’ feedback will be their basis for improvements in the future iterations of both NSTP programs.

Alonzo-Pornela added that they look forward to continuing the program’s implementation and integration alongside Ateneo academic core subjects. She said that this is in line with the design of the programs with Binhi as the exposure, NSTP 11-Punla as the immersion, and NSTP 12-Bigkis as the service part of the program.

Alonzo-Pornela said that the Ateneo’s NSTP programs aim to provide “meaningful encounters” between students and marginalized communities, as well as with individuals who work to address problems of marginalization.

In hopes of instilling a deeper connection between the students and the partner community, OSCI is also working on continuing the students’ exposure to the same communities from their freshman to senior year.

“OSCI envisions that through these programs, hope will manifest in students’ individual experiences, raising awareness of their capacity to create and cultivate change in society,” according to the Ateneo website.

Overall, OSCI is planning to hold more onsite engagements and pilot groups in the upcoming years.