STUDENTS AND NATIONAL DEFENCE

INTRODUCTION ; What part can students play in the defence of the country ...... Military training ...... Scouting ..... Social service ..... Traffic control ..... First aid ...... Civil defence training ..... Helping the injured and the sick in the battlefield ..... The end

Students are the most important section of every society . A center who can manage to produce good students need not worry country defence . As future citizens of the country , students play a vital role in every field of life . their services in the matter of national defence are especially very valuable , and the nation should fully appreciate them .

Students form the backbone of the defence forces of a nation . They are always ready to join the armed forces as regular soldiers and feel proud of wearing a soldier's uniform . Even if they are not in the regular forces . They offer their services whenever there is an emergency in the country . Their training at schools and colleges as scouts,social workers,first aid hands,civil defence volunteers or college proctors helps them to assist the armed forces of the country in various ways.If allowed,they may go to the battlefield to remove the sick and the wounded to base camps,or to help the soldiers in the matter of supply or carriage of food and amunitions to the trenches.

Again,if there is an emergency in the country,students may take the responsibility of civil defence.They can easily main tain law and order in the civil population and help the people at the time of air raids etc.Some of our students who have taken training as first aid workers may organize first aid camps to help the sick and the wounded in their own cities. They may do so even in peace times.If our government may start military training in all the colleges and schools of the country as a compulsory subject, we may produce a trained army of young men and women within a very short time.This may be helpful not only in times of emergency but also in peace times.

National defence is a joint responsibility of every citizens, and therefore, it should be made a part of our education system. If our students are prepared for this purpose in a systematic way, it will make the nation strong. As the most mobile force of the nation, students are always active. Now, it is the responsibility of our educationists to direct their energies in proper channels, and perhaps national defence is the best field where this energy of our young students can properly be used.