Minister of Home Affairs Umar Naseer has revealed plans to introduce a “one or two year program under which every school leaver must serve the government”.
Naseer’s policy was revealed during a speech given at the inauguration of the police organised camp “Blues for Youth” on Sunday.
This is the second in the series of camps targeted for adolescents, with the current batch including youth from capital city Malé.
The first camp was held in Addu City and Fuvahmulah in late December, and police have announced that a second round of activities will be organised in these areas in the near future.
The current camp will be held from January 5 to 9, and has a total of sixty four participants between the ages of 15 and 18.
“The purpose of organising these camps is to contribute to future generations of school leavers becoming individuals who are aware of the ways of the world and skilled participants of the community,” a police media official told Minivan News today.
In addition to Umar Naseer, Minister of Youth and Sports Mohamed Maleeh Jamal, Commissioner of Police Hussain Waheed, Deputy Commissioner of Police Ahmed Saudhee and other senior police officials joined today’s inauguration event.
Commending the initiative by the commissioner of police in organising the camp, Home Minister Naseer stated that the ministry will broaden the camp at national level.
“This government’s policy is to ensure that every school leaver spends at least a year serving the government. God willing, we will extend the Commissioner’s initiative to the level where each school leaver is obligated to engage in national service for two years, or at the very least for one year,” he stated.
He described youth as being highly intelligent and capable of conducting work to improve community matters more effectively. He claimed that the government will be conducting special work to ensure that youth become well-disciplined and responsible by the time they reach the age of graduation.
Home Minister Umar Naseer was not responding to calls at the time of press.
The youth minister and commissioner of police also addressed the camp’s participants in Sunday’s event.
Minister Jamal, highlighting the importance of similar camps to empower and increase opportunities for youth, described the young generation as “the biggest treasure that any nation can possess”.
He stressed upon the importance of creating responsible youth if a bright future is to be established for a nation.
Earlier in January, speaking at a National Day event, the Youth Minister unveiled plans to find employment for all youth by the end of the coming year, 2015.
Commissioner of Police Hussain Waheed stated that there was a crucial need to increase participation of adolescents in the work to create a responsible youth generation.
“There is no pleasure any one can reap from frequenting scenes of crimes. It is by strongly staying away from crime and being responsible that real happiness can be achieved,” Waheed said.
He assured that the police force is ever willing to be of assistance to “bring youth to the right path” and to work for youth development.
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How does every school leaver serving the government contribute to the economy when the government is already crowded? And what can the government teach our youth when it's full of corruption? Bad idea really.
Small country like the Maldives needs to have an active indoctrination program.
Singapore does this. Switzerland does that.
Good.
Not all small countries are the same in terms of skills, resources and what the economy or country needs. And comparing Singapore and Switzerland with Maldives??? Let's not make more stupid mistakes and drive this country into debt further. Time to clean up the mess and make something out of Maldives, instead of constantly copying what other countries. Problem with such policies is that there is hardly in depth analysis done to see whether it would work for us. It's more like a spur of the moment thing. For example, when the government is already overcrowded and we are already wasting our public expenses on paying salary for under utilized staff, why do we need to inject more people into an inefficient system? Instead why not work with the private sector to create better employment opportunities for the youth? Elections are over, so let's focus on rebuilding shall we.
Never compare Maldives to Singapore of Switzerland. It may take a thousand years for Maldives to approach those two countries. Go and visit those countries and walk around. Do you see lazy people? Do you see corrupt to the bone "officials"? Do you see a country bogged down in religious dogma and nationalism?
This will bring out more useless youth into society. In addition, it will increase the size of the government's liabilities. In short, neither does this increase government efficiency, nor does it address the problem of youth employment or skills. This is a total reversal of what's actually needed.
Those with good eyesight would know about the changes our society went through after 1998 when obligatory military service was abolished and corporal punishment was outlawed in schools. This may be a step back for us but maybe we can put the next step forward a bit wiser.