By Sellah Singini

Lilongwe, March 2, Mana: Minister of Labour, Agnes NyaLonje, has described the National Skills Competition as an incentive for Technical Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training (TEVET) trainees to demonstrate their skills and help raise skills levels across Malawi.

Speaking at Lilongwe Technical College on Friday during the closing of the first ever National Skills Competition, NyaLonje said the competition gives the trainees an opportunity to be creative, innovative and develop abilities to work under pressure.

She said Malawi’s socio-economic development agenda requires competitive skills to enable the country produce products and services that can compete on both local and international markets.

"It is worth noting that, currently, the TEVET system, through TEVET Authority, is striving to produce more artisans with skills that can match up to the acceptable national and international standards," NyaLonje said.

She said this, in turn, will result in improved quality of Malawi's national infrastructure and increased national employment, including in major projects, rather than relying on imported labour.

"It will facilitate a culture of innovation, which lies at the heart of economic growth," she added.

NyaLonje said, the competition environment also encouraged trainees to produce quality work well beyond their qualification levels which demonstrates to industries that the trainees can meet labour market standards.

She, therefore, urged all students to take competition as a springboard from which they must push and aspire to participate in international skills competitions.

TEVETA Board Chairperson, Pyoka Tembo, said 117 contestants participated in the regional competitions in April last year from seven technical colleges from the Northern Region, eight from the Southern Region and nine from the Central Region.

32 of the 117 contestants, who proceeded to the national round, received awards for doing well in their various disciplines such as automobile mechanics, tailoring and design, bricklaying, fabrication and welding, ICT as well as plumbing.

The competition has helped trainees develop key employability skills in areas such as problem solving, time management, effective team work and communication.