Students shine at WorldSkills

The overall winner of the WorldSkills Namibia competition might be going to study in South Korea at one of the technical colleges there, sponsored by the South Korean government, on an all-expenses paid basis for three years.The negotiations are still under way. The overall winner was Johannes Nicodemus from NamWater that won gold in the Electrical Installations category as well.
All the gold medal winners in the various categories are headed to Abu Dhabi where they will compete at the international WorldSkills competition later this year. All the gold medallists will be trained by South Koreans in preparation for the international competition, to ensure that the gold medallists put their best foot forward.
Only those that are under the age of 22 will be able to attend the competition in Abu Dhabi, in compliance with the requirements of the international competition. Sens Sholoongo, Project Manager of WorldSkills Namibia said that the national WorldSkills competition allowed competitors older than 22 to compete because they didn’t want to eliminate anyone from the competition, but explained that the international competition had its own rules.
The Namibian Training Authority (NTA) organised the WorldSkills Namibia competition that saw students from various private and public vocational centres come together to compete in various fields for gold, silver and bronze medals in their respective fields.
The Minister of Higher Education, Training and Innovation, Itah Kandjii-Murangi said at the closing ceremony of the Skills Competition on Saturday that Namibia has “powerful and potential youth and as leaders of today, we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that they can be tomorrow’s champions in an array of trades and fields.”
Both the prime minister, Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila and the vice president, Nickey Iyambo visited the Skills Competition to show their commitment to the government’s stance to promote and enhance skills education in the country, Kandjii-Murangi said.
“The stakes are high, more and more youth will now knock on your doors as COSDECs, VTCs (both public and private) and NTA and so the government’s expectation is that we see enrolment expansion and that you all aim to deliver quality TVET programmes that have a strong grounding in industry attachment. We also expect you to integrate, as a matter of urgency, entrepreneurial skills and the STEM business activities,” the minister further said.
The competition saw more than 100 vocational training students from across the country compete for