Labour Minister Joins 8th National Handicapped Skills Competition

Today (26 April 2017) Labour Minister General Sirichai Distakul and Permanent Secretary of Labour M.L. Puntrik Smiti welcomed Princess Soamsawali as she chaired the eighth national handicapped skills competition which took place at Impact Muang Thong Thani in Pakkred, Nonthaburi. The competition was hosted for the first time on 30-31 August 2003 at the Thai-Japanese Bangkok Youth Center, where the Cabinet then gave consensus on 20 April 2014 for the Ministry of Labour’s Department of Skills Development to host the event on a bi-annual basis. This year is the eighth occasion of the event which is organized from 26-28 April 2017 at Impact Muang Thong Thani to allow the handicapped population to showcase their skills and support them in development to become self-sufficient. A total of 209 participants took part in 20 categories, each with 8-14 participants and 10 categories each day.
    Categories on 26 April included painting on silk, computer assembly, basket weaving, recyclable innovations, studio photography, women apparel stitching, printed media design, CAD for architecture, webpage design and crochet. Categories on 27 April included painting, electronic assembly, stitching, clay molding, character design, men apparel design, poster design, industrial CAD, typography on Microsoft Word and knitting. Competition winners will be announced on 28 April, along with the award ceremony, where gold medal winners will receive 30,000 Baht, silver medal winners 15,000 Baht and bronze medal winners 9,000 Baht. Commendation awards of 3,000 Baht will also be awarded at the event. In addition to this, an exhibition of King Bhumibol Adulyadej will be on display,  as well as the sale of goods from handicapped people nationwide.Demonstrations will also be held such as decoupage making, beading, flower arrangement, basket arrangement, stitching and sign language amongst many other recreational activities. The general public are also invited to take part in the event to join in activities and support the competitors.