By Zhang Gekun

BEIJING, Apr. 21 -- A few days ago, China’s Ministry of Education and the National Defense Mobilization Department of the Central Military Commission (CMC) jointly released a syllabus on strengthening military training for high school students. It clarified that veterans can be employed in students’ military training. This would ease the current shortage of instructors needed in military training, and create more jobs for the veterans at the same time.

Military training for students is an indispensable part in the extension and expansion of China’s national defense education. As most schools tend to arrange military training for new students every September, which overlaps with the Chinese military’s recruit training and some major exercises, the number of instructors dispatched from the active-duty troops is fairly limited, hard to fully meet the need of training tasks for civilian students at diverse levels.

The syllabus on strengthening military training for high school students provides a win-win solution for the problem. Veterans are well-disciplined and equipped with good military and political qualities, capable of helping students enhance national defense awareness and abilities through military training, while at the same time, this measure is conducive to creating more jobs for the veterans, allowing them to continue to contribute to China’s national defense.

In the past two years, many localities across China have made similar attempts and achieved remarkable results, forming a mutual-benefit situation for all parties.