School Leavers To Undergo National Service Orientation
The government is mulling plans to introduce a national service orientation programme for those who would have completed Ordinary Level by the end of next year.
This was revealed by the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Paul Mavima during a Midlands Provincial prize giving day in Kwekwe last Friday.
Mavima asserted that upon completion of an Ordinary Level or Advanced Level, pupils will undergo a year of national service as in countries such as China. He said:
I am going to introduce a very controversial programme for those who are coming out of Ordinary Level as the terminal primary and career are going to be in a national service orientation programme for one year.
In countries such as China. They go for two years undertaking such programmes. In Zimbabwe, we don’t have the adaptive capacity to take learners for two years.
Countries such as China, South Korea, Egypt and Israel have policies which oblige youths at a certain age to undergo national service/military service. The duration varies from country to country.
Zimbabwe introduced the National Youth Service several years ago which reportedly produced stormtroopers for the ruling party who were then unleashed during election periods.
