A VISIT by the Army to a Vale school this week will NOT be aimed at recruiting future soldiers, council bosses have insisted.

Community Party councillor Jim Bollan raised concerns last week that a visit to Vale of Leven Academy set for Thursday this week would a “covert” recruitment campaign.

He wrote to West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) chief executive Joyce White calling for the invitation to be revoked.

Cllr Bollan said: “I understand the Army will be attending the VOL Academy on October 28 under the guise of imparting useful information to the students.

“This is a covert Army recruitment campaign which should not be allowed in our schools.

“The Army intervention team hopes to ‘Change the student’s mindset and build on skills like communication, team building and confidence helping them to secure a positive destination when they leave school’.

“It is well known that the Army recruits in areas where there is high unemployment and poverty in the expectation a so-called ‘career’ in the Army will be attractive when there is no other real alternative path into secure socially productive employment locally.

“When we have full employment and all recruiters are on a level playing field then allowing the Army access to our students in a school setting could be re-visited.

“I would ask that this recruitment event should be cancelled and any future requests of this nature from any of the military services should be tabled at an appropriate council committee for discussion and decision.”

But WDC said the visit was simply for “teamwork and confidence” purposes.

Responding to Cllr Bollan’s concerns, a council spokeswoman said: “The visit is for a selection of pupils and focuses in teamwork and confidence building and will not offer recruitment or employment opportunities to pupils.”

A spokesman for the UK Army told the Reporter: “We are proud of the opportunities serving in the armed forces affords young people, from basic literacy education and support for postgraduate degrees, to high-quality accredited training and unique employment prospects.

“This is not an Army recruiting activity; the Army has small teams of personnel that support educational professionals in the delivery of the Curriculum for Excellence through the use of TRIPLOC [Teamwork, Resilience, Initiative, Problem Solving, Leadership, Organisation and Communication] activities.

“These visits to schools have proven to be enormously popular with students and focus on the development of life skills.”