BY: AZLIZA ARIF

Malaysians on social media show a high level of approval for the current National Service Training Programme (PLKN) and the first 200 trainees between the ages of 18 and 20 in version 3.0 have to register before Nov. 24, 2024.

This is a pilot project involving the Defence and Education Ministries and version 3.0 would balance traditional military training with contemporary civic education in a three phase ecosystem of pre-PLKN, basic training and specialised training.

Once the first batch of 200 trainees are trained in January 2025, there will be an assessment undertaken and the relevant rectifications made to avoid the disastrous pitfalls of the previous National Service Programme which was eventually aborted.

From there, PLKN 3.0 would then go full fledged with four annual intakes of recruitment and if all goes well it will ultimately train nearly 200,000 participants but it will all depend and hinge on this pilot project being successful.

Unlike previously, where training was conducted in private PLKN camps, version 3.0 utilises a diverse range of government-based facilities including 13 territorial army camps, 20 public universities, 27 teacher training institutes and several polytechnics.

However, owing to previous misadventures in the Nationa Service Training Programme, parents are voicing concern for their children as there were cases of bullying, sexual harassment and racially motivated brawls among the trainees.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE

** The views expressed on this opinion is of the writer and not the publisher