INTRODUCTION
TO ROVER SCOUTING |
Rover Scouting is the fifth and final phase of the youth development program of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines.
This Program is for young men and women between the ages of 16 and 25, or those who are at least tertiary level students. It is, according to Baden Powell, a jolly “Brotherhood of the open-air and service.” In his book Rovering to Success, he describes the “adoption of Rovering by Scouts of other nations” as the “nucleus of a world-brotherhood of young men working under a common ideal of Service, and under a common bond of Friendship and Understanding.”
Rover Scouting after its reintegration into the sectional program of the BSP has gained immediate and nationwide acceptance to Scouts who were past the age of Senior Scouting and among men and women who were former unit leaders and/or Rovers and were not connected to any Scout unit. It has also become popular among emergency service groups, mountaineering groups, and to local and national executive board members of BSP. Records show that Rover Scouts units were organized, registered and became active in community service even as the New Visions Rover Program of 1992 has yet to be approved by the National Executive Board on 27 March 1991.
Republic Act No. 9163 also known as the NSTP Act of 2001 established the National Service Training Program (NSTP) for tertiary level students. Section 2 of this act “recognizes the youth’s vital role in nation-building” and declares that “the State shall promote civic consciousness among the youth and shall develop their physical, moral, spiritual and intellectual well being. It shall inculcate in the youth patriotism, nationalism, and advance their involvement in public and civic affairs. In pursuit of these goals, the youth, the most valuable resource of the nation, shall be motivated, trained, organized, and mobilized in military training, literacy, civic welfare and other similar endeavors in the service of the nation.”
Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS), according to Section 3 of republic Act 9163, refers to programs or activities contributory to the general welfare and betterment of life for the members of the community or the enhancements of its facilities, especially those devoted to improving health, education, environment, entrepreneurship, safety, recreation and morals of the citizenry.
Consequently, Rover Scouting can be channel for the continuing training and involvement of the individual in civic service if he opts to enroll in CWTS through Scouting in his college education as defined in the Civic Welfare Training Service program. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA) recognized this through accreditation of BSP as a service provider of CWTS.
Some Colleges and Universities in Metro Manila, in the Visayas and in Mindanao are already using CWTS programs with a Scouting bias. The clamor to replicate it in all the Scouting regions of the country has inspired the leadership of the BSP to prepare instructional materials that conforms with the implementing rules and regulations of CWTS.
In its program review, the task group followed the worldwide trend of confining the scouting program to the youth as prescribed in the WOSM Constitution. The present program revision therefore, has given this due consideration but has, likewise, come up with some alternative plans for those who will feel left out when the Revised Rovering Program come into effect. The proposal was accepted in the principle during the Rover Peers Conference held during the National Rover Moot held in Palo, Leyte in 2003.
These recent developments have brought an urgent need to publish this new Rover Scouting Program Guidebook.
With its simplified personal development plan, advancement and recognition scheme, and recommended community service activities/projects, it is expected to provide the youth more choices and opportunities in their desire to contribute in nation-building.
