The Free State Department of Education hosted the 6th Provincial Technical Schools Skills Competition at various venues in Bloemfontein.
The competition had ten categories including plumbing, construction, digital systems, woodworking, electronics, engineering graphics and design, welding, fitting and machining, power systems and automotive specialisations.
HTS Louis Botha, Hodisa Technical Secondary School, Heatherdale High School, Commtech Comprehensive School, Kagisho Comprehensive Secondary School, Sand du Plessis High School, Lenyora le Thuto Secondary School and Martie du Plessis School were all participants from the Motheo district.
The competition focused quite a lot on shining the light on scarce trades, the theme for this year’s competition was “Trade are the future skills”.
One of the main sponsors of the competition, the Sasol Foundation, encouraged the participants to not only showcase their unique talent but also to live in the moment and have fun! This practical competition, for both learners and teachers, was held at various venues, including HTS Louis Botha, Hodisa Technical School, SA Truck Bodies, and at the newly established state-of-the-art Mangaung Technical Vocational Centre.
Each category had first, second and third positions, won by the teachers and learners, this amounted to 60 positions. Motheo district bagged 18 positions in categories that include electronics, construction, woodwork and other categories.
The National final competition of the Technical Schools Skills will take place on 26 until 28 September 2024 at the University of Johannesburg, Resolution Circle DCES Manager Vocational Schools FS in Technical and Agricultural streams.
Wimpie Lodewyk confirmed that the candidates who won 1st and 2nd positions in the various categories will be representing the Free State. “There will be 16 learners, 10 teachers, 2 chaperones and 6 coaches in attendance to represent team Free State,” Lodewyk concluded.
Abigail Visagie
