Author: Sarah Ayesha Ishak
It is generally agreed today that national service is compulsory for each SPM leaver. National service was first started around the year of 2004. The SPM leavers are randomly selected to enter the national service. As directed by the Ministry of Education of Malaysia,it is compulsory for each selected youth to participate in this programme. Actions will be taken if they do not participate in it. I personally agreed that compulsory national service is good for the youth. One must admit that national service can bring so much benefits for them.
Let us start by considering the facts. The youth can fill up their time by participating in the national service. They can benefit their free time after their SPM exam with lots of activities arranged in the programme. Rather that loitering around, doing window shoppings, watching television, the youths can participate in many fun activities during the national service. They will not waste their time doing some useless activities. During the activities in national service, they will gain lots of knowledge, improve their health, gain new friends, and many more. Time is gold. So,the youths should always rember that time is so precious for them to fill it with useful activities.
Furthemore,we should not forget that by participating in national service, the youths will receive a lot of experiences. During the programme, they will be taught by many experienced teachers. Maybe, some youths from urban-background have no camping experience. They,maybe do not know how to set up fire or cooking food. So, national service provides them with those, for them-unusual activities and experiences. They can learn new things that they do not know. Other youths can also teach them. This experiences can easily gain by them as most of activities held provide them from within and outside knowledge. I believe that participating in national service is good for them because they can gain lots of knowledge and experience during the activities.
Moreover, the youths can find more fiend participating in national service. The youths come from all over Malaysia to participate in this programme. When they are gathered together, they are easily acquainted as they all come with different background. They can share their views with each other about state matters,state achievements,state noble men and many more. They can also exchange ideas and share their knowledge about each other’s race and customs. This healthy relationship not only will improve the multiracial ties but also will contribute to the country’s development. Therefore, participating in national service can develop ties with friends from all over the country
Equally relevant to the issue are the questions of national service’s disadvantages. We should,nevertheless, consider the problem from another angle. There are also disadvantages of this programme that make me less agree with it.
The other side of the coin is,however, that the youths need to be apart from their families. It is sad that for about three months, they cannot live with their family. Besides, they cannot spend more time together before entering the next education institutes. But, it is also dissapointing that the youths will feel free from their parent’s concern. They can befriend some licentious people. They can get bad influences. This can be a great concern to the parents who are expecting their children to be better than before. We should be concerned about their surroundings and how they are getting adopt to it.
In addition,by participating in national service, the youths have to delay their holiday plans for awhile. They are bound to the schedule which have been arranged by the organisers. For someone who have financial problems, they cannot work part-time jobs to earn money during their long holiday. For someone who wants to enjoy holiday abroad,they have to wait until they are done with the programme. In a nutshell, by participating in the national service, participants are prevented from doing holiday activities.
In conclusion, there are advantages and disadvantages of compulsory national service. In my opinion, I agree with the compulsory national service without concidering its disadvantages. The government should improve the activities and make the activities more interesting in the national service so that the youths will be more eager to participate in the programme.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/causes-and-organizations-articles/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-compulsory-national-service-3262192.html
About the Author
i’m eager to submit my own views about the national service.This will help me to enhance my english and provide people with some informations about the national service.In this way also can make learning english more fun.