Criticized by many as an indoctrination scheme, the program was lauded by President France-Albert René as a way to steer disadvantaged youth from bad habits and troubled situations at home and instead forge a body of educated, skilled, and socially-conscious future administrators of Seychelles.
The stated primary goal of the program was to create a new generation of Seychellois youth with a wider variety of skills with which they could contribute to society.
In addition to academic training, the students received practical instruction in gardening, cooking, housekeeping, and livestock raising; one of the aims of the program was to reduce youth unemployment.
Those who left school but did not participate in the NYS could volunteer for a government-administered six-month work program, receiving a training stipend below the minimum wage.
From the time the NYS program was instituted in 1981, it was met with heated opposition and remained highly unpopular among opponents of René's regime.
The Seychellois opposition opposed the program on the grounds that it allegedly indoctrinated young adults with the ruling Seychelles People's Progressive Front's socialist ideology and that it rarely allowed its participants to visit their families.
[citation needed] Due to the perceived inadequacies of the NYS and/or opposition to the ideology of the regime, many wealthier families in Seychelles sent their children abroad to Europe or Australia for education during this period.