My Longkang

In my opinion, the national service program is a good program and the trainees will reap immense benefits from it. Many of the young today need an experience like this to toughen them up. However the media has been highlighting cases after cases of alleged ‘misconduct’ among the trainers. This has the effect of creating fear among the parents.

The latest episode is when a trainee who had an asthma attack was not given treatment because the trainer was too lazy to take the trouble to help the boy. The camp had been told before-hand of the boy’s medical condition. While complaints like this should not be taken lightly, they are isolated cases.

The rest of the boy’s grouses as published in the newspaper are expected. The trainers have to look tough, appear tough to mould the youth into ‘tougher’ all rounded citizens.

In this particular case, take action against the trainer. Terminate the trainer’s employment but let us not blame the national service program. We do not chop down a mango tree just because some of the fruits fail to live up to our expectations.

At the same time, at the top level, more should be done to improve the program. Safety should be the first priority during activities and medical treatment should be made available to those who are in need of it. Something like a ‘on-call’ sort of arrangement. A retired nurse for example could be stationed at every camp for mild medical cases and more serious cases referred to doctors by the nurse who decides the status of the trainees medical condition.

Another view-point : lychuan.blogspot.com