Team Uganda flagged off for WorldSkills Shanghai as leaders call for confidence, excellence and knowledge transfer

Kampala, 10 September 2026 | UVTAB Secretariat Uganda has officially flagged off its team for the upcoming WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai, China, from 22nd to 27th September 2026, with education and skills development leaders challenging the young competitors to compete with confidence, uphold discipline and professionalism, and return home with knowledge and innovations that can contribute to strengthening Uganda’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system. These competitions are held every two years, and the participants who represent Uganda at the global stage are winners selected through regional and national competitions involving trainees from TVET institutions across the country. The flag-off ceremony was held today at the UVTAB Secretariat, bringing together representatives from the Ministry of Education and Sports, TVET institutions, skills development stakeholders, WorldSkills Federation Uganda, and the Ugandan delegation preparing to represent the country on the global skills stage. The Minister of Education and Sports, represented by the Chairperson of the TVET Council, Ms. Allen Kagina, challenged Team Uganda to approach the international competition with confidence and determination, while using the opportunity to learn from some of the world's leading skills practitioners. Ms. Kagina said Uganda’s participation in WorldSkills should not be viewed solely through the lens of medals, but as an opportunity to benchmark the country’s training, assessment, occupational standards, technologies and methodologies against international practice. “WorldSkills is not simply about winning medals. Medals are important, so go and win them, bring them home,” she said. She, however, emphasised that the broader value of Uganda’s participation would be measured by what the delegation learns and brings back to the country. “When you return, you must bring back knowledge, innovations, technologies, partnerships and lessons learnt to benefit our technical institutions and the wider skills world,” Ms. Kagina said. She urged the competitors to recognise that they are not travelling to Shanghai merely as individuals, but as representatives of Uganda’s growing skills development sector. Their participation, she noted, provides an opportunity to expose Uganda’s training and assessment systems to international standards while identifying areas for continuous improvement. Additionally, the Executive Director of the TVET Council, Mr. Moses Kasakya, stated that Uganda’s participation in the WorldSkills Competition presents an opportunity to demonstrate the potential of young Ugandans while contributing to the continuous strengthening of the country’s TVET system. Mr. Kasakya said the WorldSkills platform gives young people an opportunity to demonstrate what they can achieve when they are provided with quality training, mentorship and platforms to showcase their talents. “WorldSkills allows you to demonstrate what our young people can do when allowed to demonstrate their talents,” he said. He congratulated the competitors for reaching the global stage, describing their participation as a reflection of growing confidence in the standards being promoted within Uganda’s skills development sector. The Deputy Executive Secretary, TVET Assessment at UVTAB, Dr. Wilfred Nahamya, similarly emphasised the importance of international exposure and benchmarking Uganda’s skills against global standards. Dr. Nahamya said WorldSkills provides a unique platform for young Ugandans to test their competencies in an international environment, interact with some of the best practitioners in the world, build professional networks and gain exposure that can contribute to their long-term careers. “We challenge our young people to measure themselves against international standards, learn from the best and continuously improve,” he said. He reaffirmed UVTAB’s commitment to working with WorldSkills Federation Uganda and other stakeholders to strengthen competency-based training and enhance the international competitiveness of Ugandan TVET graduates. Dr. Nahamya described skills as central to Uganda’s transformation, noting that investment in technical and vocational education and training is critical to preparing young people with competencies relevant to the changing world of work. “Skills are at the heart of Uganda’s transformation,” he noted. He encouraged the competitors to see themselves as ambassadors of the country, carrying with them not only their individual aspirations but also the hopes of Uganda’s young people. “When you enter the competition arena, you are carrying more than your individual ambitions. You are carrying the Ugandan flag, the hopes of our young people and the aspirations of our nation,” Dr. Nahamya said. He urged the team to use the platform to demonstrate the abilities and potential of Uganda’s young people skilled through TVET. “Do not be intimidated by the size of the competition. Instead, let the world see what Ugandan young people are capable of,” he said. He called on the team to compete with courage, discipline and confidence, stressing that success should not be measured solely by medals. While a medal would be a significant achievement, he said the experience gained through competing at the international level would have lasting value. “The medal is important, but it is not the only measure of success," he advised. According to Dr. Nahamya, the exposure, networks, courage and confidence gained from participating in the competition can continue to benefit the young competitors and Uganda’s skills sector long after the competition. In conclusion, the WorldSkills Competition provides a global platform where young professionals and skills practitioners from different countries come together to demonstrate excellence in a wide range of occupational skills. For Uganda, participation offers an opportunity to expose its young talent to international competition while creating avenues for learning, benchmarking and collaboration. For UVTAB, the participation also reinforces the importance of competency-based training and assessment that prepares learners not only to obtain qualifications, but to demonstrate skills that meet occupational and labour-market expectations. The experience gained in Shanghai is expected to contribute to broader conversations around improving skills training, assessment, occupational standards, technologies, and teaching and learning methodologies in Uganda. As Team Uganda prepares to take the country's skills story to the international stage, the message from the flag-off ceremony was clear: the journey to Shanghai is about more than competing. It is about showcasing Uganda’s talent, benchmarking its skills against the world, building international partnerships, and bringing home knowledge that can strengthen the country’s TVET system. With the Ugandan flag behind them and the aspirations of millions of young people ahead of them, Team Uganda now heads to Shanghai with inspiration to compete on a global stage, learn continuously, and demonstrate to the world what Uganda’s skilled young people can do.

UVTAB Skills To End Employability Gap

Executive Secretary calls upon staff to understand New Assessment Rules, commends curriculum milestone

Kampala- 4th September 2026 Speaking during the September UVTAB Staff Prayer Breakfast today, the Executive Secretary, Onesmus Oyesigye (CPA), called on staff to familiarise themselves with the laws, rules and regulatory frameworks governing the Board’s work, emphasising that effective service delivery must be anchored in a clear understanding of the legal and regulatory environment. Oyesigye highlighted the UVTAB Assessment Rules, 2026, which he noted have been duly signed and gazetted and are now available for reference and public use. He described the gazettement of the Rules as an important milestone in strengthening the governance, integrity and credibility of UVTAB’s assessment processes. He directed the Senior Legal Officer to circulate a soft copy of the Rules to all staff for reading, familiarisation and internalisation, while encouraging the Legal Team to organise a sensitisation and training session on the key provisions and practical application in the day-to-day execution of UVTAB’s functions. The Executive Secretary further urged staff to ensure that their decisions and actions are guided by the Rules and remain within the established legal and regulatory framework. He also announced a significant milestone in curriculum development (in accordance with the TVET Act, No. 3 of 2025, Section 95), revealing that 17 National Technician Diploma curricula submitted by UVTAB to the TVET Council have been approved by the Council. The approved curricula are now ready for implementation and advertisement for admission by the respective Technical Colleges and other relevant institutions for the Academic Year 2026/2027. He commended the officers involved in the curriculum development, quality assurance and approval processes, noting that the achievement reflects the commitment and hard work of the teams involved and encouraged the teams responsible to maintain momentum and conclude the remaining processes expeditiously. The Executive Secretary also shared insights from his participation in the 42nd Annual Conference of the Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA), held in Arusha, Tanzania, from 17th to 21st August 2026. “The conference brought together approximately 360 delegates from 28 countries, including policymakers, researchers and assessment practitioners from Africa and beyond, under the theme Rethinking Educational Assessment in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” he reflected. Oyesigye noted that one of the key messages from the conference was the need for assessment systems to move beyond testing memorisation and increasingly assess competencies such as creativity, innovation, collaboration, ethical reasoning and the ability to apply knowledge to real-life challenges. He observed that the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence presents both opportunities and challenges for assessment, adding that the lessons and experiences gained from the conference would be useful in strengthening UVTAB’s assessment practices as the Board responds to emerging technological realities. On the sidelines of the AEAA conference, Oyesigye also participated in the Executive Committee meeting of the East African Association for Educational Assessment (EAAEA) in his capacity as Secretary General. The meeting, held on 20th August 2026, resolved, among other matters, to promote Kiswahili proficiency testing at the African Union level, with the aim of expanding employment opportunities and enhancing labour mobility within the East African region. The Executive Committee also welcomed and pledged its support for Uganda’s bid to host the 45th Annual Conference of the Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA) in 2029. Oyesigye noted that hosting such a major continental conference would require early preparation and called on staff, particularly those with strengths in research and academic writing, to begin preparing and submitting papers early. He emphasised that the papers would undergo review and quality assurance processes and therefore needed to be thorough, well-researched and of high quality. “Let us begin preparing now so that, by 2029, we have a strong body of research and professional contributions to showcase to Africa and the world,” he said. The Executive Secretary also commended staff who participated in the Annual Performance Review Workshop for FY 2025/26, convened by the Planning and Strategy Unit on 1st September 2026. He described the performance reviews as an important accountability and learning mechanism that enables management to assess progress against planned outputs and outcomes and identify areas for improvement. He called on staff to implement the agreed action points from the workshop, with emphasis on completing outstanding “must-do” activities in order to achieve the Board’s planned targets and ultimately deliver on its mandate. The September Prayer Breakfast was held under the 2026 theme drawn from Zechariah 4:6: “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty. The Executive Secretary reminded staff that while excellence, discipline, commitment, and integrity remain essential in the execution of their responsibilities, the institution must also seek God’s wisdom, work together in unity, and depend on His guidance in fulfilling the mandate entrusted to UVTAB.