Vocational training becomes Namibia's gold

The Namibian Training Authority, through WorldSkills Namibia hosted the President of WorldSkills International, Simon Bartley last week in Windhoek. Bartley was in the country to promote WorldSkills Namibia and the WorldSkills International Organisation to which Namibia was an associate member from 2011 to 2014, becoming a full-term member of the organisation in 2015.
In 2015, Namibia sent its first delegates to the international competition where they competed against other WorldSkills countries.
WorldSkills is the global hub for skills excellence and development. Through international cooperation and development between industry, government, organisations, and institutions, the organisation promotes the benefits of and need for skilled professionals through grassroots community projects, skills competitions, and knowledge exchange. WorldSkills shows how important skills education and training is for youth, industries and society by challenging young professionals around the world to become the best in the skill of their choice.
This year Namibia will host its first-ever qualifiers in September, where skills trainees are going to come together to compete for spots for the International WorldSkills competition that will take place in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates in 2017.
“The event is a key deliverable under the Harambee Prosperity Plan to attract and encourage more young Namibians to take up technical and vocational career paths and also to select Namibia’s competitors that would represent the country at regional and international skills competitions,” a press release by WorldSkills Namibia read.
The selection competition will take place in the following ten occupational areas: automotive technology, bricklaying, carpentry, cooking, electrical installation, joinery, plumbing and heating, refrigeration and air conditioning, wall and floor tiling, and welding.
“The opportunity to continuously participate in WorldSkills Competitions will give Namibian competitors, instructors and trainers, and officials much needed exposure to international training standards and practices as well as networking and collaborative opportunities with their international counterparts,” WorldSkills Namibia representatives said in a statement.
Bartley said that the media and other organisations could help shed light on champions of industry that compete at the skills competitions, in a bid to change the attitudes of parents and teachers; which are two of the most important players in educating those that are interested in the skills world.
Bartley also commented on the investment in skills colleges versus that made in universities in general, throughout the world. “When you look into what teachers in universities get paid, compared to those in skills colleges, we can already see the attitudes that are employed in terms of determining which one is more valuable as a career path.”
There was also discussion with Bartley about how any country needs a strong and efficient skills industry to be able to function as an efficient economy and market. He commented after having several consultative meetings with various stakeholders in the skills industry, that the Namibian government, the various educational partners, politicians and educators, were quite thirsty to make an investment into vocational training, and said that it will take time to cause real impactful change, but noted that every journey starts with the first step.
He said that we need a blend of skills for those that are university educated and the [skills] college educated, to be able to have a strong, diverse economy that is built on both skills and expertise.
When The Zone asked Bartley, whether he could cite some examples of nations where investments in the skills sector and education model changed the course of a nation, two examples were provided to illustrate the force of investing in a nations vocational training.
“About 40 years ago, South Korea was the net beneficiary of World Aid, now it is the net donor of World Aid. They have also been the winners of the last, six to seven WorldSkills International. When South Korea joined the WorldSkills organisation, they also started including skills competitions as a key part of their national educational infrastructure, to show that they are invested in their skills competition.
“South Korea has really made it with skills. If we are looking for practical examples of how they have been able to grow their country with skills, we can look to two brands, Hyundai trucks and cars, and more importantly, Samsung. Korea has really made it with skills,” he remarked jovially.
During his consultations in Windhoek, Barley met with the CEO of the National Training Authority, the Minister of Higher Education, Dr Itah Kandji Murangi, and other stakeholders from Nanaso as well as some of the vocational trainees that represented Namibia in the WorldSkills Competition in Brazil last year.
He said that he sensed that Namibians were ready to take part in the skills competitions, and said that the feeling was that once the people were given the opportunities that they would make full use of them.
Bartley, left Namibia to visit other WorldSkills African countries, to consult there to on how to get a sustainable skills model going in countries that need to enhance their skills training and skills industries as sustainable parts of their growing economies and societies.
For more information about WorldSkills Namibia, you can visit, the WorldSkills Namibia page at www.worldskills.org , or contact Sens Shoolongo at the National Training Authority on [email protected]
Keith Vries