Some 20,000 trainees of the National Service Training Programme (NS) are expected to join the NS 2.0 training at 81 camps nationwide beginning March next year.

Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said as part of efforts to transform the programme, the NS 2.0 trainees would be on a voluntary basis.

“In terms of training modules, my ministry has prepared eight new modules to be implemented in the NS 2.0,” he told reporters after surveying the progress of the NS 2.0 Transformation Pilot Project at the Princess Haliza NS Camp in Sepang today.

In this regard, he said the NS Training Department (NSTD) would be working with 10 ministries and had identified a total of 400 skills training institutes to accommodate trainees.

The move could also help trainees prepare themselves to enter the field of employment and career paths after they completed their training, he added.

In this context, Hishammuddin said the ministry would work with the Education Ministry to identify and invite students who could not further their studies in higher education institutions to join the NS 2.0.

“Trainees who are interested can visit the NSTD online portal or go to the state level NS exhibition counters,” he said.

Meanwhile, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the transformation made through the introduction of the new NS modules was able to prepare trainees to contend with challenges faced by young people in Malaysia.

According to him, the modules which covered vocational skills were also seen as relevant to the challenges faced by young people today.

The NS 2.0 Transformation Pilot Project which kicked off on Oct 17 at the Princess Haliza Camp is expected to be completed on Dec 15. It involves 469 trainees comprising 316 male trainees and 154 female trainees.

- Bernama