Time for China to host the 'Skills Olympiad'

The successful Beijing Olympic Games reminded me of a different kind of games - the WorldSkills International competition - popularly known as the Olympiad for professional skills. These competitions are aimed at providing an opportunity for young professionals in various industries and service trades from around the world to show off their craft and enhance the standard of technique and skills in the countries and regions the competitors represent.

Since its inaugural staging in Spain in 1950, the WorldSkills has been held every other year and the last one, the 39th edition, took place in Shizuoka, Japan, in November last year. Fifty countries and regions competed in such categories as automobile technology, welding, machine tooling and assembling, bricklaying and metal roofing, plumbing, web designing, pattern making, pastry, carpentry, hairdressing and many more. The competitions were intense, to say the least.

Japan and South Korea attach great importance to manufacturing skills and maintaining them at a high level. The two countries have done very well at WorldSkills competitions over the years. Riding on the momentum of topping the medal table four times in a row, South Korea won 20 gold medals at the 2001 WorldSkills, leaving manufacturing skills powerhouses Germany (five golds) and Japan (four golds) far behind. China ranked 9th on the medal table that year, the best result since the country joined the competitions in 1995.