Husama Mugerwa, a student of the Uganda Hotel and Tourism Training Institute in Jinja, has won a bronze medal in the ongoing World Skills competition in Namibia, on behalf of Uganda.
Mugerwa won the medal in the restaurant service category, while Kenya’s Shah Shradh took gold. Madagascar was also represented by Alisoa Gaelle who won silver.
The finals are expected to take place in Shanghai, China later this year, and the students that exhibited good performance are expected to represent their countries there.
Uganda was represented by 17 vocational education students in the competition, taking place in the Namibian city of Swakopmund.
The competition involved a wide range of skills which include painting, fashion and design, nursing, midwifery, medical laboratory, welding, and cabinet making. Others include electrical installation, bricklaying, hotel processing, automotive technology, hairdressing, plumbing and pharmacy.
Participants went through a vetting process via the national TVET (Technical Vocational Education and Training) competition in February, from which the representatives were selected.
The event was presided over by Third Deputy Prime Minister, Rukia Nakadama.
Uganda’s participation in the competition is in the bid to increase the popularity of vocational education and TVET, which is billed as the driver of the country’s industrial development.
TVET is one of the core priority areas under the NDP ( National Development Program) III. Through TVET the government hopes to enhance human capital development by increasing productivity of the country’s labor force.
Samuel Salongo Businde, an advocate for TVET in Uganda, says the competition will change the status of TVET in Uganda.
“The biggest problem has been mindset. Previously, TVET would realize poor-performing students. But we will see better-performing students coming because of sensitization,” he said.
Recently at the 10th Anniversary of Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board (UBTEB), the significant increase in the number of females pursuing TVET courses implied progress towards this aim.