Study National Service effectiveness - Abd Rahim

Comprehensive studies on the effectiveness of the National Service Training Programme (NSTP) must be carried out periodically to guide the National Service Training Department (JLKN) on certain aspects that need to be improved, said Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Abd Rahim Bakri.

He said the study could look at the extent the NSTP could develop the resilience of the trainees, to mould the volunteering spirit of the trainees or to develop a generation that was patriotic and united in the multi-racial community.

"It is hoped that the study not only involved the former trainees, but also the parents, the community, educational institutions, government and non-government agencies, non-governmental organisations which are directly or indirectly linked to the former trainees," he told reporters after launching the Series of NSTP Nationhood Manual at the Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), here, Thursday.

The comprehensive study could become a benchmark for the NSTP empowering process, he said.

Previously, he said, the study on the effectiveness of the NSTP was carried out in 2009 together with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia involving 62,000 samples which indicated that the satisfaction and effectiveness level of the programme was excellent.