STORY: China-backed technology skill contest fetes African students
DATELINE: Sept. 3, 2023
LENGTH: 00:05:49
LOCATION: Nairobi
CATEGORY: TECHNOLOGY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of ATC Awards ceremony
2. various of deputy president of Kenya coming into the hall
3. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): RIGATHI GACHAGUA, Deputy President of Kenya
4. various of ATC Awards ceremony
5. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): ESTHER MUORIA, Principal secretary of the State Department for Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the Ministry of Education
6. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): ROSEMARY GATHONI, Student from Kenya
7. SOUNDBITE 4 (English): JOHN TAKUDZWA, Student from Zimbabwe
8. SOUNDBITE 5 (English): VICTOR MUE, Scholarship winner, student from Kenya

STORYLINE:

Forty-nine African students have been awarded after they emerged winners of Africa Technology Challenge (ATC) Season 8, a contest initiated and sponsored by AVIC International, a Chinese company.
   
The eighth season of ATC, which began in July, consisted of 83 teams formed by 332 participants drawn from Kenya, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe who were training on CNC lathe machining as well as mechanical drawings and CAD software application.

Rigathi Gachagua, Kenya's deputy president who graced the awarding event Thursday, lauded AVIC International for the contest because it plays a key role in enhancing the technical skills of students pursuing technical courses in Kenya.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): RIGATHI GACHAGUA, Deputy President of Kenya
"This is why an event like this is one of tremendous interest to me and to the government of Kenya. Every opportunity and platform to develop and showcase technical skills together with the outputs of our national technical and vocational education and training ecosystem is a golden chance to reaffirm the promise of national socio-economic transformation.
China is our big brother. We are good friends and this year we mark sixty years of our diplomatic relations. I have said many times that the infrastructural transformation of this great republic, China has a great mark. It has stamped its authority to infrastructural development in this country."

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): ESTHER MUORIA, Principal secretary of the State Department for Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the Kenyan Ministry of Education
"We are working on lots of grounds with China in this area. We are equipping our institutions and we are also forming partnerships in as far as students and trainers' exchange is concerned. We recognize that China is our big brother as far as technological advancement is concerned.
We are also going to go into the stage of student exchange who are going to go there and gain more technological advancement and be able to re-invest it back here in Kenya.
Holding hands, they are actual hands holders of us especially in Kenya, and like I have said, as our big brother, they are ready to handhold us into that situation where we are also going to join the tigers of this world."

The ATC is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) youth empowerment project by AVIC International that was launched in 2014 and has so far benefited 1,292 participants from 10 African countries.

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): ROSEMARY GATHONI, Student from Kenya
"What I like about China is that when they see you have that passion of doing something they open it up for you. It will be easier, they teach you how to do it more so that you can have the skills. I am proud of China because it's like an experience they have so they feel it's better to teach us."

SOUNDBITE 4 (English): JOHN TAKUDZWA, Student from Zimbabwe
"I am from Zimbabwe, and I am currently doing mechanical engineering in Zimbabwe. Fortunately, I have managed to win a scholarship to study in China in the field of mechanical engineering. So am very grateful about that. This is a very great opportunity for me to uplift or to upgrade my skills in the field of mechanical engineering."

SOUNDBITE 5 (English): VICTOR MUE, Scholarship winner, student from Kenya
"It has been a long journey. We have learned a lot, the Chinese technology which I have been using in the competition is quite good, is quite excellent. It's very competitive in the world. To see the other colleagues from other countries do well in their machining, I think that was my biggest motivation. Apart from the training, I was also motivated by the fact that if we win together, we are making a better country, making a better Africa, and we are making a better world."

China's cooperation with Kenya in the technical and vocational education sector has already begun to yield positive results through joint projects and knowledge sharing that have up-skilled the local labor force.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Nairobi.
(XHTV)