Vocational Students Showcase Skills at National Competition in Kiryandongo

By Christopher Bendana

Kiryandongo District

Vocational students from across Uganda under the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) competed in plumbing, welding, agro-processing, and fashion design among other trades at the national skills competition held April 13–17 at Kiryandongo Technical Institute.

The event brought together contestants from technical institutes across the country. There were contestants from the Col. Nasur Ezaruku Amin Memorial Technical Institute, Yumbe District, Nyamitanga Technical Institute, Mbarara District, and from the Tropical Institute of Development Innovations (TRIDI), Mukono District. Most competitors were aged 18.

Although she will not advance to the global finals in Shanghai, China, 18-year-old welding contestant Rebecca Nekesa of TRIDI said the experience was invaluable.

“I am only three months into the course, but look at how I managed to score 70.8%. I was also able to learn a few welding techniques from my fellow contestants,” she said.

Yuda Adomati, from Col. Nasur Ezaruku Amin Memorial Technical Institute in Yumbe, won gold as the overall winner in the plumbing category on Friday. He said the camaraderie mattered most.

“There were competitors from Central, Eastern, and Western Uganda. I made a lot of friends,” he said.

Ronald Mutebi, the manager qualifications framework at Uganda TVET Council, represented chairperson Allen Kagina at the opening ceremony on Wednesday. He emphasized the private sector’s role in turning student’s innovations into marketable products.

“We as government are limited by resources and the capacity to scale up these innovations. We call upon the private sector to come on board,” he said.

He also urged the media to promote vocational education. “Change the narrative. If you present us as champions of the future, we become that. If you highlight us as the number one option for students, we become that,” he said.

Clet Masiga, executive director of TRIDI, said the competition offers a standardized evaluation platform for students from any institute, whether Nyamitanga or Arua Technical Institute. “This improves the students’ confidence, knowing that their training location does not matter only the products they can design and make,” he said.

Masiga added that TRIDI is working with the Mastercard Foundation to incubate students’ ideas by linking them to potential employers and microfinance institutions.

Jihee Ahn, Uganda country director of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), one of the development partners at the event, told Science Now Magazine that KOICA prioritizes skills development based on Korea’s own experience. “We had only people, no natural resources,” she explained. “We are now intentional about transferring our knowledge and experience so that others can learn from us.”

KOICA has previously brought Korean experts to train Ugandan vocational tutors.

The Ugandan government has recently emphasized vocational skills training, as research shows better employment opportunities for vocational graduates compared to academic graduates. The government passed the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Act 2025 to standardize training for the country’s industrialization and development.

The 2026 WorldSkills competition will be held in Shanghai, China, in September.

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