Ghana grabs Gold, 2 Silver & Bronze at maiden Worldskills Africa contest

Ghana won gold in the Cooking category, Silver in Hairdressing and Electrical Wiring as well as Bronze in Mechatronics at the 2018 Worldskills Africa competition held in Kigali, Rwanda.

The competitors from Ghana were: Sika Mortoo (Cooking), Ebenezer Nuamah (Electrical Wiring), Clement Tei Siaw (Mechatronics) all from the Accra Technical University and Lisa Mendita (Hairdressing) from FC Beauty College.

In all, six skilled areas were contested by Ghana, Rwanda, Morocco, Liberia, Kenya and Uganda. Ghana competed in four skilled areas which were Cooking, Hairdressing, Electrical Wiring and Mechatronics. The two trades that Ghana were not represented were Welding and Bricklaying.

The objective of Worldskills Competition is to challenge the youth to aspire for greater excellence in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and skills development for national and global economic transformation.

This year, The Council for Technical and Vocational Education in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, organised both zonal and national skills competition in September and November 2018, respectively.

The Worldskills International in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Rwanda and the Integrated Polytechnic Regional College (IPRC), organised the Worldskills Africa Kigali 2018 Regional Skills Competition as part of efforts to institutionalise the competition on the Africa continent.

The Executive Director for Council for Technical Vocational Education Training (COTVET), Dr. Fred Kyei Asamoah, congratulated the competitors for making Ghana proud on their first participation in the competition.

Dr. Mensah also used the opportunity to advise young Ghanaians to opt for TVET as they aspire for skills. This, he said, will ensure that we develop the relevant skills to support the local industry to the next level and also attract more industries to relocate to the country.

“Skills and entrepreneurship are what will ensure employment for the youth and add value to our services and products, as Ghana becomes an industrialised nation and strategically leads Africa,” he noted.

He expressed gratitude to the European Union, German and Swiss governments, National Youth Authority, Amatrol, Planetcore and Delorenzo “for their partnership and sponsorship.”

The Council Director further pleaded with the “private sector, industry players and all stakeholders to join hands in Skilling Ghana for youth empowerment, innovation and creativity as we institutionalized National Skills Competition.”

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