VietNamNet Bridge - Defence Minister Phung Quang Thanh said the draft amendment to the Military Service Law proposes to increase the maximum enlistment age from 25 to 27.

Presenting the draft bill to the National Assembly on Friday, Minister Thanh said the current law stipulates the enlistment age in peacetime is 18 to 25 years old. Thus, the percentage of citizens with college degrees or higher who enter the army is very low.

On the other hand, many citizens prefer to postpone enlistment to go to college but after graduation, most of them are no longer of enlistment age. Moreover, many people take advantage of this incentive to avoid their duty.

To deal with this, the draft bill stipulates that only high-school students and regular college students can be suspended from entering the army.

"The current Military Service Law does not specify the time of enlistment so citizens should not take the initiative to arrange their time for study and work. The draft bill specifies February and March as the time for enlistment," the Defence Minister said.

Le Ha