Vietnamese youth join world’s largest vocational skills contest

The competition is expected to attract about 100,000 visitors to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre on October 8-20, 2017. It will showcase the skills of roughly 1,200 entrants under the age 24 from about 60 countries, who will compete in areas such as landscaping and cooking.

It’s basically the skills Olympics, said Cao Van Sam, deputy head of the Vocation Training Department.

Every two years, countries gather with their teams of young people and compete to be the best carpenter, the best florist, the best car mechanic and they get gold, silver and bronze medals – it’s very much like the Olympics.

WorldSkills began 66 years ago in Spain to promote vocational training through activities such as competitions and community projects.

Mr Sam noted that he hoped WorldSkills would help to expose students to the vocational education options that are available to them and help change any negative perceptions about pursuing a career in the trades.

Some young people are more suited and will be more successful on a path which may not be a university path, he added.

Vietnam will field a contingent of 13 contestants who will compete in 12 skills, said Mr Sam, with funding for their training and travel costs to be paid for by Denso Manufacturing Vietnam Ltd Company.