Ministry of Defense gives reasons for delaying military enlistment of university graduates

The Ministry of National Defense recently received a petition from voters in An Giang province requesting that they study and submit to the National Assembly an amendment to the 2015 Law on Military Service in the direction of stipulating that citizens who have graduated from high school and are admitted to universities and colleges must perform military service and have their studies deferred.

After completing military service and being discharged, continue to participate in the reserved study program.

Responding to this petition, the Ministry of National Defense said that Article 30 of the Law on Military Service (NVQS) stipulates the age of military service.

Citizens who are 18 years old or older are called up for military service, the age for military service ranges from 18 to 25 years old. Citizens who have received college or university degrees and have been temporarily deferred from military service, the age for military service is up to 27 years old.

For citizens who are students, temporary deferment of military service is stipulated in Article 41 of the Law - that is, they are studying at a general education institution; are receiving regular university training at a university, or regular college training at a vocational education institution during a training course of a training level.

Thus, the provisions of the 2015 Law on Military Service have created conditions for citizens to temporarily defer military service to focus on studying during a training course of a training level.

In addition, the military service age of the above-mentioned deferred citizens is also extended so that citizens have the opportunity to fulfill their sacred duty to the Fatherland, contributing to ensuring social justice.

On the other hand, the Ministry of National Defense said that the 13th Congress Resolution determined to "Build a revolutionary, disciplined, elite, and gradually modern People's Army and People's Public Security, with a number of military branches, arms, and forces advancing straight to modernity."

One of the solutions to achieve this strategic orientation of the Party is to improve the quality of human resources, including non-commissioned officers and soldiers serving on active duty.

Therefore, the selection and enlistment of highly qualified people, especially citizens with university and college degrees, is necessary and suitable to the requirements of building the Army in the new situation.

The Ministry of National Defense affirmed that regulations on military service age and deferment of military service for citizens admitted to universities and colleges are appropriate.

Research more sanctions for avoiding military service

Voters in Hung Yen province also reported that there are still some cases where citizens of military service age avoid military service by many means. Voters pointed out many ways such as: going to domestic schools, studying abroad, traveling, exporting labor... when returning to their hometown, they are no longer of military service age, causing difficulties in calling citizens to join the army.

Meanwhile, voters in Vinh Phuc province believe that the Military Service Law is not strict and does not have a high deterrent effect, so many young people of military age still evade and circumvent the law while local authorities do not have measures to force them to comply.

Voters propose strong enough measures and sanctions to handle these cases.

Responding to these two recommendations, the Ministry of National Defense said that the implementation of the Law on Military Service has revealed a number of problems, inadequacies, and difficulties.

Registration and management of military service for citizens, especially students after finishing college and university; citizens leaving their place of residence; citizens studying and working abroad. However, there is a lack of management sanctions and has not been thoroughly handled. This leads to the omission of citizens ready to join the army, creating loopholes for some citizens to take advantage of and avoid performing military service, causing negative public opinion.

In addition, the sanctions prescribed in the Law on Military Service 2015 do not fully cover violations, so the implementation process at the local level is still difficult and entangled in handling administrative violations and criminal handling of violations.

The Prime Minister has assigned the Ministry of National Defense to propose amendments to the 2015 Law on Military Service. The Ministry of National Defense is reviewing the implementation of the Law on Military Service and is preparing a dossier to propose amendments to the law to report to the Government, submit to the National Assembly for consideration and approval, and include it in the law and ordinance making program for the 15th National Assembly term.

In response to voters' opinions, the Ministry of National Defense assigned the Steering Committee and the research team to draft the Law on Military Service to synthesize the content and propose amendments and supplements.

The Ministry of National Defense also requested the provincial National Assembly delegation and People's Councils at all levels in localities to promote their supervisory role in the implementation of the Law on Military Service.