The National Youth Service (NYS) has lowered the entry grade from D (plain) to D- (minus) to accommodate more Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) students seeking to acquire technical skills.
NYS Director General James Kipsiele Tembur made the announcement while appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Cohesion and Equal Opportunities on Thursday, February 29.
Tembur said that the move would enable youths from disadvantaged communities be able to have an opportunity to join NYS as well.
“The Ministry has lowered the mean grade to enable youths from disadvantaged communities be able to have an opportunity to join NYS,” Tembur told the Committee.
Additionally, the DG noted that the new directive will be applied during the next recruitment.
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Although members of the Committee welcomed the move, they asked Tembur to ensure that slots for youths joining the NYS were shared equally across the country.
According to Nyeri Town Member of Parliament (MP) Duncan Mathenge, stakes were higher for NYS after President William Ruto announced that Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) officers would be recruited from the organization.
“The president’s directive has made joining NYS to be very emotive and that is why it is important to ensure transparency and equal distribution of slots during the recruitment exercise,” he said.
At the same time, they asked the DG to ensure that people living with disability in their recruitment were represented in the NYS council.
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Earlier on February 2, the Ministry of Public Service, Performance and Delivery Management Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria announced that the government had put in place plans to export NYS graduates.
According to Kuria, the graduates were at the heart of the government’s current Labor Export Program.
“We plan to export NYS servicemen and women overseas. The Labor Export process is underway as we have already begun facilitating the issuing of passports at NYS Headquarters in Ruaraka,
“The exercise will be ward-based where we have allocated recruits per ward while considering the population of each ward,” he said.
To apply for NYS recruitment, interested candidate must be a Kenyan citizen between the age of 18 and 24.
Aside from the KCSE certificate, a police clearance form (good conduct certificate) is also a mandatory requirement.
