The Editor, Sir:

The military draft call made by pastor Glen Samuels and supported by a number of Jamaicans may bear fruit; however, it needs to be fine-tuned. I suggest that the government use the large acreages owned by many high schools to set up camps for all 17-year-old school leavers. These camps should be operated by the military but there should be absolutely no weapons training.

These teens should be made to go through the rigours of army life, and during the day time they should do practical things like road engineering, mechanical engineering, agriculture, painting government properties; this list can go on. In the nights the classrooms of the school can be used for academics, all of this supervised by the military.

After two years, during which time each participant gets to leave the programme at specific inter-vals, those that are qualified to go to teritiary institutions can go ahead, the others go into a programme like the National Youth Service and are given some work experience.

The benefits could be enormous: re-socialisation of these teens, retraining, an injection of well- needed discipline and a chance for the government to identify people who potentially could be like troublesome ghosts in our society.

I am, etc.,

SERIC SMITH

sassrick@yahoo.com