'Delayed' honoring artisans and skilled workers

(Baonghean) - In 2016, for the first time, Nghe An province organized an honoring ceremony for artisans and skilled workers who have contributed greatly to craft village production, serving consumption and export, improving product competitiveness, and contributing to the socio-economic development of the province. However, until now, nearing the voting deadline, the whole province has only 12 applications.

In order to encourage, recognize and commend the contributions, intellectual dedication and talent of local artisans and skilled workers to the restoration and development of small-scale industries and craft villages in the province, the Provincial People's Committee "Issued the Regulation on considering and awarding the title of Artisan and Skilled Workers in the field of small-scale industries and craft villages in Nghe An province" according to Decision No. 73/2015/QD-UBND (dated December 21, 2015).

Skilled brocade weaver.

Up to now, the province has 139 craft villages and more than 300 villages with crafts, distributed in 18 districts, cities and towns, with production value from crafts reaching more than 1,122 billion VND/year. Craft village activities are quite rich and diverse with vermicelli, peanut candy, fish sauce, rattan weaving, brooms, incense, brocade, civil carpentry, fine art carpentry, ornamental plants... Developing small-scale industries, building craft villages, craft villages, each year has created an average economic value for localities of 2,000 - 2,500 billion VND, accounting for an average of 30 - 35% of the total economic value of the districts, creating new jobs for more than 35,000 workers.

Through production activities, the development of industries has created important changes in economic development in rural areas and implemented the goals of economic restructuring, hunger eradication, poverty reduction, infrastructure construction; in implementing the National goal of building new rural areas and stabilizing social security. To achieve the above results, it is necessary to mention the significant contribution of the team of artisans and skilled workers in localities in the province.

According to the survey results of the Center for Social Sciences and Humanities under the Department of Science and Technology, in 2012, in Nghe An, there were over 226 skilled workers in craft villages in the province who could be honored with the title of artisans and skilled workers. Thus, the source of skilled workers in craft villages is quite large, so honoring the title of Artisan and Skilled Workers is necessary.

In 2015, the Provincial Cooperative Union realized that honoring artisans and skilled workers was very necessary and advised the Provincial People's Committee on this issue. 2016 is the first year that the Provincial Cooperative Union will organize the selection of the title of artisans and skilled workers of the province. In the past, the Provincial Cooperative Union sent documents to the districts and actively urged grassroots units to organize voting at the district level, but many districts have not paid attention to this issue.

Carpentry craftsmen at Phu Nghia Carpentry Village (Quynh Luu).

Up to this point, Nghe An has only one artisan in Trung Kien shipbuilding village (Nghi Loc) who has been specially awarded the title "Vietnamese Craft Village Artisan" by the Vietnam Craft Village Association.

Mr. Tran Van Chuong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial Cooperative Union said: The deadline for submitting documents is September 30, and the voting will be held in October, but at present, only 12 sets of documents from the three districts of Quy Chau, Yen Thanh, and Quy Hop have been sent to the province. These documents focus on a number of occupations: ornamental flowers and plants, brocade weaving, incense, and lace embroidery.

Through reviewing the submitted documents, it is shown that most of them are capable of achieving the title of Skilled Worker, while the title of Artisan is very difficult to achieve because of the high requirements; in fact, up to now, provincial departments and enterprises have not organized competitions to honor skilled workers, and there is a lack of guidance for individuals to participate in competitions and fairs domestically and in the province, so products made by skilled workers rarely receive gold, silver, and bronze awards, which are one of the important bases for considering the title of Artisan. Therefore, the consideration for awarding the title of Artisan will not have many subjects.

According to Mr. Tran Van Chuong, in the coming time, sectors and localities need to organize creative competitions to honor high-winning products. At the same time, they should pay attention to and have policies to train artisans and skilled workers; create conditions for skilled workers to attend domestic fairs and exhibitions to learn and improve their skills. Currently, some colleges and vocational schools in the province have trained many skilled workers but have not been considered for honor when this group works in the craft village fields.

From the practice of small-scale handicraft production in craft villages, villages with hundreds of years of crafting, it can be seen that artisans and skilled workers play an important role in preserving and developing handicrafts and craft villages. They are the ones who directly pass on the craft to generations of descendants, so that small-scale handicrafts can develop forever.

Honoring artisans and skilled workers aims to recognize their contributions to the socio-economic development of the province, contributing to creating jobs for workers in rural areas.

>>Download Decision on honoring Artisans and Skilled Craftsmen here

Quynh Lan