Covid-19 certificate now required in coming NYS recruitment exercise
The National Youth Service(NYS) on Tuesday announced that all prospective candidates wishing to participate in this year’s recruitment exercise from November 2 to 6 will be required to present a Covid-19 free certificate at the recruitment centres.
Successful NYS recruits were normally required to undergo a medical checkup during and after the recruitment exercise.
But through an advert in the local dailies, NYS Director-General Matilda Sakwa clarified that the additional measure is meant to prevent the spread of the virus, which has so far claimed 990 lives with almost 50,000 cases recorded in the country since mid-March when the first case was reported.
The service has appealed to the youth in all the 47 counties who are interested in joining NYS to turn out in large numbers for the recruitment exercise to be conducted countrywide.
“All prospective candidates aged between 18 and 26 years must be Kenyan citizens willing to offer voluntary service in any part of the country. They must be ready to undergo rigorous physical training,” the notice read.
Sakwa announced that the recruitment exercises will be conducted across 333 centres countrywide.
Successful candidates will be admitted to NYS Training Colleges at Gilgil and Naivasha for the basic paramilitary training on dates and times to be specified in their respective calling letters.
The service further pointed out that orphans who meet the required qualifications will be given first priority subject to production of sufficient documentary proof.
NYS was established in 1964 to train young people on key national issues and in 2019 it was transformed from a state department to a fully-fledged semi-autonomous state corporation after enactment of the NYS Act, 2018 by Parliament.
Its core mandate is to train and mentor Kenya’s young people through paramilitary and regimentation, national building programs, technical and vocational training in various skills and trades.