658 youths apply for National Service Program in less than a month

658 youths have applied for the National Service Program in less than a month since applications were opened.

Applications for the National Service Program opened on April 20^th with a deadline of June 1^st.

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, while speaking to reporters after a ceremony held at the President’s Office this morning to ratify the new Anti-Gang Crime Act, said the program has been well received by the public, with 658 applications to date.

The 658 applications were from 538 males and 120 females.

According to the President, 316 of the applications were submitted by young adults between the ages of 16 and 18, with the consent of their parents.

While the goal is to train 1,000 recruits under the program within this year, the President noted that it might not be possible to accommodate such a large number of recruits in the initial intake due to lack of resources.

“However, we can only accommodate a limited number in the first batch. Nevertheless, we will take an additional batch. This is to reach the target we have set for each year,” he said, citing 4,000 as the ultimate target.

National Service Program is an initiative introduced by President Muizzu to nurture a generation of youth who are disciplined, strong, and well-trained.

It is designed to revive national spirit and patriotism among youth, nurture a people with a deep appreciation for Islam, build a community that would readily face national service in times of danger or crisis, facilitate recruitment and training of youth needed to increase the strength of the security forces, and instil the values of camaraderie, cooperation, discipline and ethics, mutual respect and forbearance in words and actions among Maldivian youth.