Competition showcases talent of young artisans

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Pretoria – The battle of the best is on where young artisans from TVET colleges, private colleges, universities of technology, and industry are competing in 22 skill areas.

The second World Skills South Africa (WSSA) Competition, currently taking place in Durban, has mobilised about 122 participants from public Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges and the Universities of Technology, where the higher level skills around robotics, mechatronics, and other advanced technologies are taught.

These include electrical, mechanical, civil and information technology engineering, as well as other manufacturing and services fields.

The young professionals may only participate once in the three-day competition and must be between the ages of 18 and 22 years.

Speaking at the opening of the competition on Monday, Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande said competitions like the WSSA go a long way towards building enthusiasm for the trades as a route to personal and family empowerment.

“WSSA project is one of the projects in the department targeting the continuous expansion of the TVET colleges sector, particularly on artisanal skills, as patrons will notice over the next three days of the competition that predominantly it is TVET colleges participating in these 22 competition skills areas,” said Minister Nzimande.

He said that the department is pleased by the fact that Basic Education Department continues to expand its curriculum to include more technical, vocational and occupational programs and subjects.

“On our side, we are working with the TVET colleges as they continually revise and upgrade their technical and vocational curricula. These efforts are directed at expanding program delivery to embrace increasing numbers of occupational trade qualifications as listed by the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO).”

QCTO is a Quality Council established in 2010 in terms of the Skills Development Act. Its role is to oversee the design, implementation, assessment and certification of occupational qualifications on the Occupational Qualifications Sub-Framework (OQSF).

The Minister also welcomed industry participation in these competitions, saying that they possess the capacity to set the tone for high standards of participation in the competition for TVET colleges and universities of technology.

He said South Africa is well on the way to achieving the National Development Plan (NDP) goals, which requires that 30 000 artisans are produced per year by 2030.

“We are already producing over 16 000 qualified artisans per year. We are well on the way to achieving our national goals!” said Minister Nzimande.

In December 2016, as the department they presented their strategic thinking regarding artisan training in the country generally, wherein one of their key proposals was to pursue closer ties with industry.

The WSSA space offers an ideal platform to give meaning to that pursuit for closer collaboration.

South Africa is one of 74 countries affiliated to the World Skills International (WSI). The second national competition is in preparation for international competition participation to be hosted in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in October 2017.

The winners will represent South Africa in pitting their skills against the best from countries across the world, including BRICS partners (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), as well as Germany, the United States of America and Namibia, amongst others. - SAnews.gov.za