Ready for international skills competition

Imagine running to lay six 20m cables over 6½ hours. That is one of the tasks Mr Andrew Tan, 21, is practising, for the WorldSkills Competition (WSC) 2017.

"As my tasks may take a long time, they require a lot of stamina and focus to be able to push through," said Mr Tan, a computer engineering graduate from Singapore Polytechnic.

The Singapore team has been training nine hours a day, five days a week for more than a year.

Mr Tan specialises in information network cabling, one of the many skills in WSC 2017.

The WSC is the world's biggest vocational education and skills excellence event that allows competitors to compete against global standards and showcase their technical skills.

This year, from Oct 15 to 18, 21 young people from the five polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education here will represent Singapore in 19 skill areas at the 44th WSC in Abu Dhabi. They will be competing against almost 1,300 participants from 65 other member countries.

In the last WSC in Brazil, the Singapore team won a record number of awards - one silver medal, two bronze medals and 14 medallions for excellence.

Freight forwarding will be introduced to the WSC this year.

Miss Olivia Low, 20, who specialised in logistics during her time in Temasek Polytechnic, will be competing in tasks such as customer advising, insurance and damage control.

Another skill area in the WSC is health and social care, which will see Nanyang Polytechnic nursing graduate Fazira Zulkifli, 21, completing tasks in four simulations - a community hospital, day care centre, hospital and home care.

She believes the skills she learnt in school are applicable to the competition as she will be assessed on how she plans and conveys care and treatment.

She said: "The training for the competition also gives me good exposure as I am able to learn more about my trade."

The guest of honour at the team's sending-off ceremony on Friday was Dr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information, and Education.

He said: "We are always looking at ways to improve education and, in particular, to make education relevant to that student, the generation they are growing up in and the jobs they likely need to prepare for.

"And an important component of that is the appropriate use of skills, as well as the link between what you do, your institution and the industry that you are hoping to move towards."