Young Thais score big for their trade skills in Brazil
TWO YOUNG Thais won gold and bronze prizes, while 10 other Thai competitors received certificates at the 43rd WorldSkills Competition in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.
Kittinan Sornsongkhram, a competitor on turning skills, won the sole gold medal for Thailand in this year’s event. The bronze-medal winner was Suparat Rattanapan, who won for his welding skills.
The other 10 certificates were awarded to Thai competitors on restaurant services, mechatronics, polymechanics and automation, wall and floor tiling, cooking, hairdressing, fashion technology, refrigeration and air-conditioning, graphic-design technology and beauty therapy.
The Thai winners will fly back home tomorrow. The gold-medal winner will receive Bt300,000 in cash from the Labour Ministry’s Skill Development Department, while the bronze-medal winner will receive Bt100,000 and the skill certificates awardees will get Bt50,000.
Labour Minister Surasak Karnjanarat said during the visit to the venue in Brazil last Wednesday that the WorldSkills Competition was a chance for Thai youth to prove their expertise and show the world that our young people’s skills are of an international standard.
Brazilian Education Minister Renato Janine Ribeiro said vocational education was very important for Brazil’s economic development and this competition helped boost productivity and economy in his country.
“Vocational education is a new culture. [Its] importance is growing, and there is a lot of room for growth in our country,” he said. “If we invest properly in education for children and teenagers, we will improve even more.”
The WorldSkills Competition is the world’s largest professional education event and is held every two years.
This year, 59 countries sent participants to the three-day competition to find the best young people from around the world in their profession.
Fifty vocational skills were open for the competition this year.
