Residents of Narok County want students set to join local Universities to undergo National Youth Service (NYS) training to inculcate discipline and patriotism at the institutions of higher learning.
The proposal was made to the NYS reforms task force meeting held at the Narok North Youth Empowerment Hall where speakers recommended the reintroduction of the mandatory enlistment to the service to help the young people mature emotionally, psychologically, socially and physically before resuming their classwork.
Narok Principal Chief Moses Dapash said indiscipline cases reported from tertiary institutions were rampant and could be curbed if the learners first underwent the NYS training.
“In the 1990’s, the students would pass through NYS colleges for training before they joined universities. This made the students resilient in the many challenges they face in their education hence produced high quality graduates,” he said.
The principal chief proposed the establishment of NYS colleges in all the regions in the country to avoid congestion in the few institutions that are already existing.
The Narok Boda Boda Chairman Lemayian Punyua recommended an NYS training center to be built in Narok County citing the expansive land and high levels of illiteracy.
Punyua said the presence of NYS training institutions in every region will create job opportunities for many young people and more youths will benefit from the training.
Narok Peace Chairman Joseph Kileu stressed the need of youths who successfully complete the NYS training to be absorbed in the job markets so that they can get an opportunity of building the nation.
He reiterated that many NYS graduates end up engaging in criminal activities like drug abuse and theft because of frustrations after the six months training.
Narok Persons with Disability Chairman Paul Ole Sopia asked the government to admit physically challenged persons to NYS training institutions as they too have unique talents.
Ole Sopia also recommended for the entry point to NYS colleges to be lowered from a D plain to below E so as to accommodate all youths who did not have an opportunity of completing school.
The task force was led by former Interior Secretary Moffat Kangi and Elizabeth Mueni who promised to present the views of the people in their final recommendations.
In March this year, President Dr. William Ruto extended the term of the Police Reforms taskforce by two months to include NYS.
The taskforce is mandated to identify the legal, policy, administrative, institutional and operational constraints on effective service delivery by the National Police Service (NPS) and Kenya Prisons Service (KPS) to review and recommend improvement of the terms and conditions of service.
The taskforce is led by former Chief Justice David Maraga. Others are John Ole Moyaki, Ibrahim Guyo, Richard Kirundi and Rosaline Odede.
By Ann Salaton
