RETIRED COLONEL of the Jamaica Defence Force Allan Douglas has revived commentary we published last November relating to a proposed compulsory youth service.
Building on what the Government was contemplating, Colonel Douglas has suggested in a letter to the editor that the projected expansion of the National Youth Service (NYS) should have a component of military training.
His proposal relates to compulsory recruitment for all youth between ages 18 and 25 who are unemployed. Such recruits would be subject to military law for a service period of three years, as well as the regulations and control of the NYS.
As we noted in our previous commentary, the proposed mandatory service was to target 10,000 unemployed youth at an estimated cost of $700 million. The "administrative nightmare" we envisaged would be ameliorated somewhat under military administration. The well-established elements of army discipline would be a welcome addition to deal with varieties of problems to which young people are prone.
We are not aware of how much progress has been made in the study relating to expansion of the youth service. But there may well be some linkages to the wider area of educational reform. For example, if the relatively neglected area of early childhood education begins to get the enhancement projected then in the long run the problem of unemployed youth should begin to recede.
For the present, however, there must be a large pool of unemployed youth who presumably have missed the formal education system and thus become unemployable. They are therefore both subject and pliable elements of the crime scene. The youthful nature of many of the criminals now a menace to the society has been often cited by law enforcers.
There is of course a measure of military training in the secondary school system as offered by Cadet Corps units. These cadets are younger than the 18-plus recruits suggested by Col. Douglas; the mandatory element would be more appropriate for the youth who became unemployed precisely because they missed the academic training necessary to become productive workers.
The military component suggested for the youth service is a good idea especially from the aspect of the disciplines that will be imposed at a critical age. The Government should give serious consideration to this aspect of its projected expansion of the National Youth Service.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
