The Guyana National Service was a

public service A public service is any service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through public sector agencies ...

organization An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose. The word is derived from ...

, including a

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

element, formed in

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

in 1971 and disbanded in 2000, amidst some controversy.

Function

The service was created following recommendations by

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

consultant Robert F. Landor, to address youth unemployment and modeled after the National Service of Tanzania. " Prime Minister Burnham authorized the formation of the Guyana National Service in 1974 as a 1,500-person paramilitary force. He envisioned it as a way to mobilize the youth of Guyana. GNS recruits ranged from ages eight to twenty-five." Guyanese youths who joined, mostly aged 15–20, were sent to three months of military training, followed by agricultural training.

Opinion

Some people argued that it was a thinly veiled military arm directly under the president, with the leadership of the organization coming from Guyana's police and defense forces. It also became compulsory for graduating from the

University of Guyana The University of Guyana, in Georgetown, Guyana, is Guyana's national higher education institution. It was established in April 1963 with the following Mission: "To discover, generate, disseminate, and apply knowledge of the highest standard for ...

. The organization reduced the numbers of

The Scout Association of Guyana The Scout Association of Guyana, is a Scouting organization in Guyana formed in 1967 as a successor to The Scout Association of the United Kingdom's Guiana branch. The association became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement i ...

, which it competed with for the recruitment of youth. Over the course of its existence over 20,000 people were part of the Guyana National Service. Others viewed the GNS as patriotic; seeing and helping to develop Guyana's hinterland while learning life skills to give youth a "sense of value, a sense of worthwhileness". In bringing together Guyanese from all backgrounds, it served to create unity among the stratified society.

Legacy

A notable member was researcher

Karen de Souza Karen de Souza (born 19 January 1958) is a Guyanese women and child's rights activist who has worked to advocate for victims, educate and provide support for victims of violence. Founder of the NGO Red Thread anti-violence campaigns, she has b ...

, who began working as a volunteer in the Guyana National Service in 1975, learning electrical skills and giving reading courses to illiterates. Worldwide ex-GNS reunions were held in 2012 and 2015.

References

{{reflist Guyana