[MALAY MAIL ] PUTRAJAYA DANGLES RM 100K CARROT FOR WORLDSKILLS GOLD
Malay Mail, 18 April 2017
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (right) during the launch of ‘Road to World Skills Abu Dhabi 2017 Gold ‘ event at the Putra World Trade Center, Kuala Lumpur, April 17, 2017. — Bernama pic
KUALA LUMPUR — The federal government will award RM100,000 to individual gold medallists at the WorldSkills Championship (WSC), Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced today.The government currently offers cash rewards of RM40,000 for gold medal winners, RM20,000 for silver medallists, RM10,000 for bronze, RM4,000 for the Medallion of Excellence recipients and RM4,000 for the Best of Nation award recipients.
“Whoever who represents Malaysia in this WSC and bags gold, the government will top up (the prize) with an award of RM100,000 cash,” he said when launching the Road to WSC Abu Dhabi 2017 Gold event here.Zahid said the increased reward is aimed at further motivating Malaysian participants and their trainers.The WSC is a bi-annual multi-skills international competition. ASEAN participants must qualify for the event via the Asean Skills Competition (ASC).
There are 54 skills competition in the championship, ranging from automobile technology, beauty therapy, cooking, cabinet making, electronics, mechatronics, information technology network systems administration, and more.In the 2015 WSC held in Brazil, Malaysia collected one bronze medal for the hairdressing category.“Therefore the government has targeted that Malaysia bag at least five medals, including one gold in WSC 2017,” Zahid said today.
Malaysia will have 21 participants in this year’s edition. The selected entrants are students from the Public and Private Skills Training Institute as well as private and public universities.Malaysia emerged the overall winner at the ASC 2016, bagging 24 gold medals, four silvers, five bronze and six medallion for excellence.The 2017 WSC will be held in Abu Dhabi from October 14 till October 19. Of the 51 skills categories, Malaysian participants will compete in 20.