Education Cabinet Secretary Mr. Ezekiel Machogu on Tuesday 22nd November presided over the closing and awarding ceremony of the Africa Tech Challenge Season 7.
AVIC International held the closing and awarding ceremony for The Africa Tech Challenge Season 7 at the Weston hotel in Nairobi, in a colorful event co-organized by AVIC International and the Ministry of Education of Kenya.
Mr. Machogu and Mr. Xu Fei, Vice President of AVIC International Project Engineering Company, presided over the awarding ceremony. Other notable guests included Ms. Zhou Meifen, counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Kenya; Dr. Margaret Mwakima, Ph.D., principal secretary of the ministry of education; Mr. Wu Qijin, Exim Bank China’s chief representative for Southern and Eastern Africa, and Prof. Peter Kagwanja, CEO of the Africa Policy Institute (API).
Education CS Ezekiel Mochogu Presides over the awarding of Africa Tech Challenge Season 7 winners
The closing and awarding ceremony attracted more than 100 guests from China and other countries who gathered to celebrate the success of ATC season 7.
The seventh season of ATC began in July 2022; 259 young people in 65 teams from six African nations were trained and certified in the reading and drafting of construction drawings. Twelve vocational training institutions in Kenya participated in this season.
In his remarks, CS Ezekiel Machogu stated that the Ministry of Education pioneered this idea so that ATC may be used as a vehicle for raising awareness and enlightening Kenyans about the multiplicity of opportunities that may arise from improving skills development, an initiative that raises the prominence and acceptability of skills.
The CS also expressed appreciation and advocated collaborating with AVIC to broaden the ATC competition to additional disciplines because the Kenyan economy requires more skilled workers.
“ATC will allow participants to specify a solution to a problem, build a system, & test it” said the CS.
On AVIC’s part, Mr. Xu Fei said that up until ATC Season 7, AVIC has trained 960 students from 10 countries and as a result, 9 institutions were awarded production orders amounting to 500,000 USD. He reaffirmed that ATC will run for a number of additional seasons.
“The current need for large-scale investments in technical skills in Africa is undeniable. AVIC is committed to supporting skills development and capacity building through various development and cooperation programs,” said Mr. Xu Fei.
Diana Busingye of Uganda emerged the winner in the individual category, while the Luyanzi Institute of Technology of Uganda took first place in the group category.
Northern Technical College of Zambia took second place and Meru National Polytechnic of Kenya took third place.
The primary objective of vocational education is to alleviate the unemployment problem. As a result, in addition to scholarships to study in China, the competition winners will also receive internship and employment opportunities.
What ATC season 7 was about
Education CS Ezekiel Mochogu and Mr. Xu Fei, Vice President of AVIC International Project Engineering Company preside over the awarding of Africa Tech Challenge Season 7 winners
ATC season 7 was under the theme “Construction Engineering Drawing and Drafting”, which still continues
the previous “training + competition” model.
In the 7 edition, there were teams from six countries – Kenya, Egypt, Ghana, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe competing together to promote the exchange of experience between the participating team members from each country.
From July 25th to August 22nd, a month of online intensive training was provided to participants from different countries. The online preliminary round was successfully held on August 25, and one team from each country was selected to enter the final round.
The final phase was launched on November 13 in Kenya, where the finalists gathered for a 5-day training session starting on November 14 and the final round was held on November 19. All participants who successfully completed the training received a certificate of completion jointly issued by the Kenyan Ministry of Education and AVIC International.
The 7th season of ATC training and competition was digitally supported by AVIC International’s online education platform. Through the online training format, the 7th ATC benefited more participants than in previous competitions.
After the final closing ceremony, the ATC Organizing Committee collaborated with the Confucius Institute of the University of Nairobi to hold Chinese cultural experience activities, allowing the participants to experience Chinese specialties including tea ceremony, Guzheng, Opera face painting, calligraphy, etc. to promote cultural exchange between China and Africa.
In addition to training and competition, ATC also successfully held two ATC TALKS, which
led participants on an online tour of the Global Trade Center project in Nairobi, Kenya, as well as
invited established African architects to interact with the participants online, allowing them to
understand the application of their learned skills in the field of architecture and broaden their
horizons