The current Vice President and flag bearer of the NPP for the 2024 presidential elections stated in his February 7th, 2024, address on his vision for Ghana that if he becomes the president of Ghana, national service will be voluntary.
While many party faithfuls accepted this without thinking deeply about its dangers, Kofi Asare of Education Watch has asked very critical questions.
According to Kofi, after he interviewed 10 students of the University of Ghana on the policy suggestion by the Vice President on voluntary NSS, all the students said they would not subscribe to it. Under the current compulsory regime, some students opt out of it. He added that the staff of the service believes that if it is made voluntary, 2 out of every 10 graduates will opt for it, which will create problems.
Making national service voluntary will not create jobs; no jobs are waiting for students after school, and nearly all students go through the NSS to gain valuable on-the-job experience and training, which improves their CV and increases their chances of securing jobs. How will students get at least a year of job experience to meet the basic requirements of employers? Will the government be able to create at least 80% of the jobs new graduates need so that these graduates can get employment right after school? The answer is no, so why introduce a system that will create more challenges for the country and its team of graduates?
How will Bawumia’s voluntary NSS create jobs? Kofi Asare writes
Read the submission of Kofi Asare on the matter.
How will DMB’s voluntary NSS create jobs?
I spoke to 10 final-year UG students and 10 staff members of NSS on Thursday.
Question: If national service were not compulsory, how many of the 10 students would voluntarily subscribe?
Students: 0/10 since it comes with too much inconvenience.
NSS staff: Even under the compulsory regime, many still find their way out. Imagine it being voluntary. Only 2/10 may subscribe.
NSS staff: In addition to patriotism, national service is a form of pre-employment training, especially in a tertiary education system that lacks significant industry participation.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Voluntary NSS:
I analyse DMB’s vision of making NSS voluntary from a relevance perspective.
What problem is DMB seeking to solve here?
Graduate Unemployment: So, graduates can reduce the duration of unemployment.
Data from ISSER indicates that only 10% of graduates secure employment within a year of graduation.
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Key reasons are the low number of jobs available for new graduates to compete for, inexperience, skill mismatches, and jobless growth.
I believe making NSS voluntary will not increase the supply of jobs that do not exist, nor will it provide the work readiness skills lacking in graduates to make them competitive in the labour market.
I humbly submit that making NSS voluntary does not solve the graduate unemployment problem.
Maybe it solves a problem we haven’t been told about yet, but certainly not graduate unemployment.
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I am happy about the work readiness and pre-employment innovations the current government has infused into the NSS.
In addition to the nation-building experience, it is in the interest of the future to continue making NSS compulsory.