Amit Panchal, a student of electronic engineering technology, has won a gold medal in electronics at Ontario Technological Skills Competition. He took electronics as a subject “because I was really interested in knowing how electronics work.”

Ontario Technological Skills Competition is the largest skilled trades competition in Canada with 1800 competitors, 30,000+ spectators, 60+ skilled trade contest areas over 325,000 square feet. The competition is meant for elementary, secondary and post secondary students.

Amit has been in Canada for only about two and a half years, and is on his way to benefiting from opportunities that Canada offers. His family, especially his brother who had been here a while longer, has been a great support to him.

Originally from Gujarat, Amit faced some barriers when he landed in Canada. Language was one of them.  “I was not used to English,” he says innocently, yet you could hardly tell if he had a real language barrier just a few years ago. He had taken ESL classes from Humber College.

The second major obstacle was credential recognition. It took him six months to get the required documentation from India. A high school graduate from India, he feels that “in India, there’s more focus on theoretical stuff than practical…mostly here, you go through practical stuff, what you are supposed to know at work place.”

Third was to pay for his tuition. You are not eligible for any loans or grants if you have lived for less than a year in Ontario. So while Amit was going through the process of credential recognition and so on, he worked at a gas station, saved money and paid for his tuition.

After working and saving for a year, he did not need to apply for any loans as he had saved enough, however in last year of his stay at Humber College, he applied for loan and was qualified for it.

There was another cultural challenge associated with paying for college. “Being responsible for myself was hard,” he says. “In India, our parents used to pay money for whatever education but here I had to pay for my own education.”

His message is clear and simple. “I don’t have good opportunities right now,” because of recession, “but in future I will have many opportunities.” A hope that many immigrants bring to Canada and keep ignited. And to accomplish their goals, they work hard for what they had left their countries of origin for.

Author: Asma Amaant