Ghana picks 2 gold, 2 silver medals at WorldSkills Africa

Ghana made an impressive maiden appearance at the Africa WorldSkills competition held in Swakopmund, Namibia.

Even though that was the first appearance of the Ghanaian contestants, they lifted the flag of Ghana high, having brought home two gold medals and two silver medals out of the 10 skills areas competed in.

Ghana picked Gold in Web Technology and Mechanical Engineering Computer-Aided Designs, as well as silver medals in fashion design and electrical installation.

The Ghanaian medallists at Swakopmund 2022 in Namibia were Louis Morgan (Gold Medal in Mechanical Engineering CAD) from Cape Coast Technical University, Deladem Oko (Fashion Technology) from Ho Technical University, Ibrahim Adam Kwaku (Electrical Installation) from Accra Technical University and Manfuji Yao Agbo (Web Technology) from Ho Technical University.

The Ghanaian contestants competed in web design technology, mechanical engineering computer-aided designs, fashion technology, bricklaying and hairdressing.

The rest are welding, electrical installation, cooking mechatronics, web technology and automobile technology.

Performance

For the Director-General of the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), Dr Fred Kyei Asamoah, the 10 competitors gave a good account of themselves, "and for me, they are all winners."

The African Union, which sponsored the event, is expecting that by 2024, when the next event would be held, Over 20 African countries should be participating. At this year's contest, over 100 competitors from 13 countries competed in 16 skills areas.

Dr Asamoah said he was happy that for the country to have beaten countries that had been in the competition over the years meant that the country was doing something good in that direction.

He commended the government for investing into TVET to enable the country to compete in those skill areas, adding that Ghana’s participation in the contest was a way to improve in skills development.

He said he believed that the WorldSkills contest was not just for competing sake, "and also not just for true and false; it is truly to make a real impact in our industry. It was exciting to see the display of skills."

Skills

Dr Asamoah said the participation of the country in the competition, according to experts, "will be a litmus test to how our skill development agenda is looking like."

He said if Ghana would be going to the WorldSkills competition, there was the need "to up our game."

He said acquiring such skills would not only attract more people to the sector, "but will also make sure that our standard of training is up to the level that the world needs.

"If we are able to do that, right away, we will be bringing our local industry at par with the international industry," he said, adding that it would also be good to attract a lot of industries to the country.