August 16, 2021
Educational institutions must be the training ground for good governance.
Corruption and incompetence - these two issues are still the main problem of most of the countries. However, these problems are more rampant in third world countries thus decelerating their progress even more. In the Philippines alone, PhilHealth, a government controlled insurance corporation, just lost 15+ billion pesos ($300 000 000) due to corruption. This amount of money can be used to serve people’s health in need of this pandemic. I already created an article about this a few months ago.
Aside from that, incompetence is also the main problem here in the Philippines. Let the pandemic situation right now be the example.
Society condemns this immoral act and we always seek for justice by the means of punishing the involved government officials. We are already tired of this recurring problem but it seems it doesn't stop.
Kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan. (The youth is the hope of the nation)
- Jose Rizal
In this famous line of the Philippine’s National Hero, he believes that the youth is the hope of the current problematic world.
It seems we, the youth, are the only ones who can change the faulty system that the adults established.
Given that the children are the future leaders, why don’t we forge them to be better individuals?
I believe we are all aware about the student council. This group of people were elected by their peers to address issues of concern and plan student events and activities.
Here in the Philippines, we call them the Supreme Pupil Government (SPG) or Supreme Student Government (SSG). This school organization is composed of the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Auditor, Public Information Officer, Peace Officer, and year level representatives.
In the middle or end of semester (depends on school), current SSG officers are welcoming and urging everyone to file an candidacy for a position they want. Usually this is open for all students. Based on my experience, everyone who filed a candidacy underwent screening to filter the candidate who had good intentions.
Approved candidates were given 3-5 days (depending on school) to have a campaign. At this moment, candidates showcase their proposed solutions to the current issue happening in their institution. For example, unhygienic bathrooms are one of the main problems in government funded schools. Candidates can present a solution that can stop this problem.
After the campaign period, students across that particular school were obligated to cast their vote. Later that day, assigned individuals who represent the election committee will count the votes. The current members of the SSG are not allowed to join in vote counting because it may spark a conflict of interest. The candidate who got the most votes wins.
The reason why I elaborately explain this stuff is because I want you to understand that educational institutions portray something. It portrays a country where the SSG officials serve as government officials and the other students represent the normal citizens.
If done properly, this student council thingy can educate not only the members involved in the position but also the students who elect them to be a starting ground for good governance!
However, due to negligence of other schools and universities to guide their students, the purpose of the student council was put into vain. For instance, students based their vote on the looks and popularity of the candidate. This particular candidate was just invited to run even though he/she doesn’t have any knowledge in leading, and doesn't even care about the issues on his/her dear alma mater. Just because of the looks and popularity, that candidate won.
My main point here is, teachers or other responsible individuals should educate or guide the students to vote for the righteous candidate as possible. Because if this cycle will continue, these young fellas will get used to the same standards thus bringing it to the real world and voting incompetent and corrupt government officials.
My experience
I also became part of the Supreme Student Government in my secondary highschool. I was elected Auditor, in which I am the one who’s responsible for checking the council’s monetary transactions. I need to provide a monthly report to our adviser and post it on the bulletin board. In this way, I can ensure the transparency of the organization.
Most of our party members won the election. Regardless, I am also proud of the other opponent party. Their president candidate promoted gender equality, the other one promoted a savings bank for the students, and other more. Later on, we asked them to cooperate with our projects as we found their plans useful.
I am proud to say that our batch is able to raise the standard of electing the next SSG officers. All of the plans we promised during our campaign period were carried out. Issues lurking around our school were solved, this include vandalisms and gangs.
Ending remarks...
After writing this article, I also realized that maybe the root of incompetence and corruption is also us. These corrupt and incompetent government officials were also a child. Unfortunately, they were misguided during their journey. Now they are grown up individuals, we elected them to the position.
Maybe we should start guiding the youth today. Let them be aware of the current happenings. Let their urge grow to experience a better world. These urges will force them to be better individuals. Do not control and silence them. I tell you that the youth is more aware than you know.
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I was once a SSG officee during my high school and college days. I can proudly say that the way we governed it, there's really no corruption but your article is reaply a big check and I would totally agree with you. 🙂