India has notched its best-ever performance at the just-concluded 45th World Skills 2019 competition in Kazan, Russia. Nineteen skilled young Indian professionals have won honours for the country. India also finished 13th out of 56 participating countries, making it India’s best performance yet at this global youth skills congress. In the last edition at Abu Dhabi in 2017, India won one silver, one bronze and nine medallions of excellence.

The global competition, which is considered to be the ‘Olympics’ among global skill competitions, saw India bag 1 gold medal, 1 silver, 2 bronze and 15 medallions for excellence across 43 skill categories this year. In the automotive-related skills category, India has bagged six awards (see detailed list below). The global contest saw 1,354 young professionals from 63 countries and regions vie for honours in 56 skills.

India participated in 44 skills including mobile robotics, prototype modelling, auto body repair, welding, car painting, baking, confectionary and patisserie, brick laying, and floristry among others. National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under the aegis of MSDE has been leading India’s delegation at this biennial event since 2011.

Team ASDC with the three champions: Govind Kumar Sonkar, Suraj and Tushar Phadatare.

Journey to World Skills 2019
The selection of Team India for World Skills 2019 began in January 2018, with the rollout of a scheme on India Skills competitions. More than 22 states collaborated and organised close to 500 district and state- level competitions between March and April 2018. The winners at these events, competed at four regional competitions organised at Jaipur, Lucknow, Bangalore and Bhubaneswar. The regional competition winners further competed at the National Competition in October 2018 at Aerocity Grounds in Delhi.

Since then, the selected candidates have been undergoing rigorous training and have also participated in international competitions in order to hone their skills and gain the required experience. Most competitors have also received training at international centers which has significantly enhanced their skills.

The Team India included participants from all over the country, including 6 from the North Eastern region. Seventy-seven of them hail from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and can speak 10 different languages. Most of these competitors come from a very humble background, with 35 percent have their parents either employed in the agriculture sector or are working as daily wage earners.

According to Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey, Minister for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, “Through World Skills Competition, we aim to provide opportunities to the youth in our country to compete with, and learn from, their peers across the globe. Such initiatives also help us benchmark our skills to the international standards and will improve the overall quality of vocational training in India. I congratulate each one of them for their journey so far and wish them the very best for all their future endeavours. I believe they will inspire future competitors and all those who aspire to excel in their careers through vocational training.”