I have engaged in community service at different times, and most of these engagements came as a result of a compulsory call to do so, with failure to comply resulting in a penalty.
Is that how community service should be enforced?
Although the term community service suggests a willingness to participate, it is also obvious that a good number of people do not engage in it unless they are forced to do so. However, whatever approach is adopted, the end result matters. I mean, the positive impact of community service on people's livelihoods and the environment matters a lot.
Should high school students be forced to engage in community service?
Yes, it will go a long way!
But the truth is that a lot of parents, especially parents of this era who tend to adopt the lifestyles of people living in "heaven" (well-functioning parts of the world), won't buy the idea of allowing their children in primary and secondary schools to be involved in community service, especially when it involves physical labour.
It will go a long way towards promoting selflessness in society, and it will be a good thing if people become accustomed to intentionally maintaining government properties. When these students learn the value of community service during their school years, it becomes something they naturally incorporate into their lives.
Are penalties necessary for students who don't take part?
Like I mentioned earlier, in a country like mine, without laws enforcing such activities, people won't take them seriously. So, it would actually be a good thing to withhold students' graduation until they complete the required number of community service hours.
When I was doing my NYSC, we had community service as a compulsory activity that took place every Thursday of the week. We were told that at the end of the service year, if a corps member had not completed the required number of community service engagements, their certificate would be withheld until they completed the exercise. If such a rule had not been imposed, we wouldn't have taken community service seriously. In fact, even when attendance was mandatory for everyone, some of us always found ways to dodge some of the sessions, while our names were still included on the attendance list.
Community service, most of the time, means that the people involved must actively participate in the service rather than simply pay others to get them cleared of the task. So, in the case of primary and secondary schools, the school management might want to use money to pay labourers to handle the community service tasks on behalf of the students, but that wouldn't be a good approach. The students must physically participate to experience the essence of community service.
Thanks for reading.
