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The Ministries of Defence and Education are rewarding army conscripts by introducing a distance-learning programme for those already enrolled in undergraduate courses in Cyprus and Greece, who may gain up to one semester’s worth of credits during their military service. At the same time, the cooperation with the Open University also allows for short courses towards vocational qualifications for those who will not continue to higher education after they leave the army.
In both cases, this incentive offered to those who have not evaded their national service should also help instill a sense of responsibility and productivity in our otherwise disillusioned youth, who very often are not even aware why they have been called up. By introducing a level of competitiveness, at the same time that Defence chief Christoforos Fokaides has promised to announce reforms in the National Guard by October, including a gradual reduction in military service, our 20-year-olds may be better placed to face the real world, perhaps even seek a career-related higher education that has not been imposed by parents.
But what happens next?
Although both education programmes, that will be offered from September, are most commendable, what the Ministry of Defence ought to be looking at is innovation, not just education.
The concept of innovation is pro-active and implies fresh ideas by putting them to practical use. Apart from gradually gearing towards a leaner, but longer-service professional army, that will be necessary even after a potential solution in Cyprus may be reached, the military should be seen as an innovator, researching and even taking part in programmes that improve the quality of life or technological advances.
Naturally, such applications would have some military significance, ie. communications, technology, marine and health, but their impact could be wider that would be accepted by society and, perhaps, the business world.
After all, this is how the first incubator programmes got off the ground in Israel, the then-Soviet Union, the U.K. and the U.S., while military units are even hired nowadays for clandestine electronic work, especially in China.
Taking the army into the digital age may even, surprisingly act as a catalyst towards an increase recruits, while those initially doing their national service, would opt to stay on and continue into a career that has great potential, job satisfaction and encourages creativity.
