DOHA: More emphasis will be laid on military training than civilian aspects in the state-mandated compulsory national service for young male citizens.
Participants in a fresh national service programme slated to begin next month, will be attached to army units for a while at the end of their camp in Al Shamal.
Qatar’s National Service Authority has a well-equipped camp for cadets in Al Shamal. Since the start of the mandatory service early last year, participants have camped there for training.
However, two new batches reporting for the national service next month, will have a different experience. After two months of training at the base camp in Al Shamal, the cadets will be sent to army units for military training.
The local Arabic daily Al Raya reported yesterday that National Service Authority has drawn up new curriculum for the national service for new batches.
“The focus will now be more on military training than civilian aspects,” Brigadier Nasser Abdul Rahman Al Jaber, Deputy Head of Authority, was quoted as saying. “And physical fitness will continue to remain the ultimate objective of the programme,” he added.
Of the two batches, one will comprise participants with university degree. The other will consist of men who have secondary school certificates and lower educational qualifications, including those who are school dropouts.
The first batch (of those with university degree) will spend two months at Al Shamal camp. After that, they will be attached for a month to army units for field training.
The training period for the other batch will be four months and will include training with army units after camp training.
Participants attached to army units will be trained in the use of light weapons.
At Al Shamal camp, as usual, the regimen will be tough and training will begin right after pre-dawn prayers and last until late at night.
Lectures on Qatar’s history, social science, culture, environment and society as well as awareness against drug abuse, physical exercise and sports, will dominate camp training.
“The new programme will be different from the ones conducted since the start of the national service,” Brigadier Al Jaber said.
According to a national service law introduced early last year, all Qatari men between 18 and 35 years must attend compulsory national service for three to four months. The Peninsula
