An Inquiry Into the Life and Times of Teridon

The NUSP Edgar Jopson Student Council Manual

The National Union of Student of the Philippines, the oldest and broadest alliance of student councils, governments and formations, published the Edgar Jopson Student Council Manual (Edjop Manual) as a guide to student council on how to manage its affairs effectively and efficiently. It includes discussions on student leadership, propaganda, mass campaigns and struggle, public speaking, table battles and negotiations, parliamentary procedures, and for our purposes, student council management. The Edjop Manual has been used as the definitive student council guide of the UPM-USC and many other USCs and college student councils of the UP System and other colleges and universities.

In its discussion of Student Council Management, it explains first the functions of a student council –

“1. The student council is an important venue in raising the consciousness of students and in forwarding their rights and interests. Student council leaders should be accountable to the students who have voted for them in the belief that they can further their rights and welfare. However, their failure to address the problems of the students is also a failure to grasp the real nature and function of student leadership that is serving the students and the Filipino people.

2. The council should create desks and committees to systematize the action on specific concerns. This should help in raising the awareness of students on issues and encourage them to act on these. These committees and desks are tasked to research information pertaining to these issues and to propagate such information and issues in pamphlets, newsletters and other propaganda materials to aid students in learning of the issues.”

These are only two of the many functions of the student councils mentioned by the Edjop Manual but clearly, it is also in line with the set-out objectives of the UPM-USC.

In terms of managing the student council, the Edjop Manual provides two points which student councils must always remember – Maintaining Leadership and Developing Expertise in Technical Work.

# posted by Terry Ridon : 1:47 AM