- Mungatana said there are people who did not attend the NYS training and are more disciplined than those that did.
- He said one can learn discipline from the trade they engage in on a daily basis.
Image: FILE
Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana has opined that the idea to introduce a program akin to the National Youth Service training for every Kenyan will face great resistance in the country.
Speaking during an interview on Tuesday on Tuesday, he said the government will have to give Kenyans a very strong reason for reintroduction of the program.
"If NYS kind of thing is to be brought back then it will face a lot of resistance and we will need to have very strong justification for telling people you need to go run, maybe someone wants to study agriculture instead," he said.
Though the NYS training is meant to inculcate discipline and structure in youth, Mungatana said there are people who did not attend the NYS training and are more disciplined than those that did.
He said one can learn discipline from the trade they engage in on a daily basis.
"I don't think we should make the training mandatory again. It will face a lot of resistance," he said.
Mungatana was reminiscent that when he finished high school and was about to join the then mandatory youth service program, former President Daniel Arap Moi suspended it due to budgetary constraints.
At the time, Mungatana said he had decided not to go to the training and was planning to fall sick since medical explanations were grounds enough for missing out on the program.
This comes after the Presidential Working Party on Educational Reforms recommended that the government should reintroduce mandatory community service training similar to the NYS training.
The working party proposed that all learners should undergo compulsory community service training for three months after high school competition.
The learners will also undergo similar training for nine months after graduating from university before joining the job market.
"It is, therefore, needful to re-introduce the Community Service Learning programmes for students upon graduation, to promote peaceful co-existence and cultivate a sense of patriotism, appreciation of diverse cultures and work ethics in our youth," the report read in part.