Bronze medallists at WSC 2017 receive incentives, advanced diplomas

SEPANG: Two bronze medallists at the WorldSkills Competition (WSC) 2017 – Mohd Asyraff Yusni and Lai Jia Yi – received RM10,000 incentives, and were awarded the Malaysian Skills Advanced Diploma in their respective fields, from the Ministry of Human Resources.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot announced the incentives upon the return of the Malaysian contingent from WSC 2017 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport here, today.
Mohd Asyraff, 22, of Kolej Universiti DRB Hicom took part in the automotive technology category, while Lai Jia Yi, 21, of Taylor's College, participated in cooking.
Mohd Asyraff was also recognised as the best Malaysian participant (Best of Nation) and took home RM4,000 in cash.
Malaysia also won nine Medallions for Excellence in welding, refrigeration and air conditioning, beauty therapy, hair styling, fashion technology, piping and heating, web design, cabinet manufacturing and mechatronics. The recognition is given to those having a very high level of skills.

The nine Medalion for Excellence winners also received RM4,000 incentives and were awarded the Malaysian Skills Diploma.
The Malaysian contingent at the event from Oct 15-18 comprised 21 participants in 20 fields, namely winners of Youth WorldSkills Malaysia 2015 Competition (national level) and ASEAN Skills Competition 2016.
Malaysia won a bronze medal in hairdressing in the biennial competition held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2015. The WSC is held to enhance Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) at the global level.
Meanwhile, Riot said Malaysia's success at the WSC proved it was on the right track to achieve the target of 35% local skilled workforce by 2020.
In 2015, 28% or 3.4 million of 12.8 million of skilled manpower in the country comprised locals.
"We expect the percentage of skilled manpower in the country to increase to 31% this year," he told reporters here, today.
He hopes the national contingent's achievement at WSC 2017 would become a catalyst for the country to continue the quest for more medals, including the gold medal at WSC Kazan, Russia, in 2019.
Malaysia has participated in the WorldSkills Competition 13 times since 1993. — Bernama