The Deputy Minister of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sports, Arts and Culture (MEIYSAC), Dino Ballotti, reaffirmed the government's commitment to skills development and youth empowerment. 

Balloti said this at an award ceremony for the top performers of the National Skills Competition that was held at Swakopmund and hosted by the Namibia Training Authority (NTA).

"The National Skills Competition demonstrates Namibia's steadfast commitment to building a responsive, relevant and future-orientated skill set. Our national priorities include modernising our curricula to meet industry needs and emerging sectors such as renewable energy and digital technologies."

The competition took place 66 days ago, and at this ceremony winners received their cash prizes.

Silver medal winners walked away with N$5,000, bronze with N$10,000 and gold medal winners received N$15,000.

The overall winner, Immanuel Natanael, walked away with N$20,000.

Natanael expressed his joy, "Well, I'm really excited. I didn't expect this. No, you're coming. I really appreciate the NTA and the WorldSkills. I really appreciate it."

The Chief Executive Officer of NTA, Erick Nenghwanya, commended participants for their dedication.

"Your roles are invaluable for mentors and experts; you symbolise resilience and excellence, inspiring the Namibian youth to impress students. It's a tough way to reward career choice, not an option."

Other winners had this to say.

"I joined the competition, and I was like, 'I should have confidence in myself, and I'm here for a reason. So when I ended up being one of the award winners, I was more than thrilled, honestly, like I felt like screaming."

"Very excited, I don't even know how to say thank you, because I got a big opportunity even to go to China in the cooking category since I won a silver medal. And I got the opportunity to go to China. I can say I'm very excited."