Three students from Rwanda Polytechnic (RP) have won medals in the World Skills Africa competition that took place in Namibia from March 28 to April 2.

Among them are Janvier Nizeyimana from IPRC Kigali who won a gold medal in Welding Trade, Andre Ndayishimiye from IPRC Gishari who won a silver medal in Bricklaying Trade and David Irimaso from IPRC Kigali who won a Bronze medal in Electrical Installation Trade.

According to Sylvie Mucyo, Acting Vice Chancellor of RP, the win marked the efforts Rwanda has put in Technical and Vocation Education Training (TVET) and gave the institution strong hope that if they put more effort, they will achieve a lot.

She noted that the competition has also showcased Rwanda to Africa and increased the interest of companies that wish to invest in Rwanda after realising what Rwandan students are capable of doing.

According to her, RP has learned from what other African countries do better and has seen the good it has to keep as well as what is being done on the continental and global level of TVET.

Mucyo also revealed that the institution seeks to send students to attend the global world skills competition which will take place in Shanghai, China, in October 2022.

The journey to get students who attended the World Skills Africa competition started from provincial level where four students in each of the four provinces and Kigali City were selected. All 16 students also contested on national level through National skills competition and in the end, the best four passed.

Lt. Col. Barnabe Twabagira, Principal of IPRC Huye led the team that flew to Namibia for the competition.

He said that when they were still in Rwanda, the four students were trained for three weeks as they prepared themselves to join other contestants from 21 African countries.

According to him, during the competition, the students worked with experts in their fields as well as leaders which he said has helped them perform better than any other country given that they competed in four trades and won 3 medals which is the highest percentage compared to any other participant country.

Principal Twabagira also noted that the competition became a platform for expertise exchange for lecturers from different African countries, adding that they have learned to work time-efficiently but still do quality work.

Winners speak out

Janvier Nizeyimana who won a Gold medal in the Welding Trade said that due to how best he has been trained, his level allowed him to gain victory.

Talking about the work he did during the competition, he said that he and other contestants were given a technical drawing which they had to interpret and implement by joining different metal pieces, using several joint methods and later welding the pieces to obtain the final product.

Nizeyimana revealed that hardworking, discipline, good leadership as well as praying are the factors that led to his victory, adding that since his working level has increased and that he has connected with students and experts from different African countries, he is set to bring his skills on the labour market.  

Andre Ndayishimiye who won a silver medal in Bricklaying Trade said he has learned to do quality work in small time and is going to keep improving his skills and bring them on the labour market so that he can preserve his medal and make Rwanda proud for supporting him.

David Irimaso who won a bronze medal in Electrical Installation Trade declared he has done training corresponding to 70 per cent of the work he was supposed to do in the competition.

According to him, the work was scheduled to be completed in eighteen hours even though no competitor finished it in due time hence they were awarded according to what they had done so far.

He admits that he was challenged by time hence the competition compelled him to work on improving his working pace.

In 2018, Five Rwandans also won gold medals in the first Africa Skills Competition that was held in Kigali.