Employers must demand the National Service Certificates from applicants for jobs as a condition for employment, the Executive Director of the National Service Scheme, Vincent Senam Kuagbenu, has said. He warned that employers who engage graduates who failed to do national service would face the full rigours of the law. He gave the warning on Tuesday in Bolgatanga at an in-service training for volunteer national service personnel recruited to teach in the most deprived areas of the region. Mr Kuagbenu said from next year, any eligible graduate who refused to serve the nation under the scheme would be prosecuted. He stated that it was criminal under the constitution for any graduate to refuse to offer him self or herself for national service after graduating, saying, it was mandatory as stipulated in the constitution. Such offence could attract an imprisonment of not less than five years," he said. He appealed to the volunteer national service personnel made up of retired but active teachers and post national service personnel to live up to the task by working hard in the various schools they would be posted to and be agents of change in the communities. He said the Voluntary National Service programme started in 2003 to augment teaching and learning in schools in deprived areas. Mr Kuagbenu assured the personnel that their allowances would be increased and paid on time to help them discharge their duties effectively and advised them not to remain in the voluntary service but to aspire to higher positions in other fields. The District Coordinating Director of National Service for Talensi-Nadam, Mr. Michael Zuri, said the scheme had contributed immensely to teaching and learning in the district and said there had been an improvement in the results of basic and second cycle schools. He indicated that in the remote areas where some teachers refused to teach, volunteers readily accepted postings to such places to work. Mr Zuri said the major problem confronting the volunteer teachers was lack of accommodation and appealed to the district assemblies and traditional authorities to assist the volunteers in that direction. Source: GNA/Ghana