Hundreds of prospective national service personnel were left stranded on Thursday following delays in the registration process.
The applicants, who have massed up at the Greater Accra regional registration centre said the National Service Secretariat (NSS) must digitize the biometric registration system to avoid the long queues.
Although a lot of initiatives have been instituted by the scheme to ensure a smooth process this year, the frustrations experienced by students from previous years is still present.
[contextly_sidebar id=”CvNnMLHifiLH7thUoZWEQJts4W6SaXdk”] Citi News’ Caleb Kudah found that many of the service personnel were angry after queuing for long hours at the various registration centers to complete the process.
He reported that scores of prospective personnel came in as early as 8:00pm last night just to write their names adding that as at 7:30 am today, Thursday, more than 500 names had been written.
Some of the registrants who spoke to Citi News were entirely not happy about the process.
“I came here as early as 2:30 am, but as at now nothing has started”, a frustrated father fumed.
Extension of Biometric Registration
Meanwhile, Gifty Oware Aboagye, Deputy Executive director of the National Service Scheme has blamed the slow nature of this year’s biometric registration on prospective personnel’s failure to adhere to instructions.
According to her, the registration process has been improved this year.
In an interview with Citi News, she urged prospective personnel to exercise patience as the deadline for biometric registration has been extended to December 31.
“You could go to any of the regional offices and register because the biometric registration continues till December and last year that is what we did”, she said.
National Service Scheme
The scheme as currently constituted provides newly qualified graduates the opportunity to have practical exposure on the job, both in the public and private sectors, as part of their civic responsibility to the state.
But each year, prospective personnel are faced with the challenge of having to go through unfavorable circumstances to get themselves registered to embark on their mandatory national service.
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By: Caleb Kudah & Nii Larte Lartey/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
