Free State expands artisan training to boost youth employment

The Free State Education Department says it is expanding technical education to help produce more artisans and create employment opportunities for young people.

MEC Dr Mamiki Maboya says the province has increased the number of schools offering technical subjects from 32 to more than 50.

Maboya says, “Those were doing plumbing.

I said to them, you see the state of our municipalities, where we are struggling, for instance, with plumbing; we are losing a lot of water, and if you lose water, it is, you are also negatively impacting the revenue of the municipalities…”.

“So if we have people like you, then we are sure that we’ll be able to open workshops in your industrial parks and be able, therefore, to help municipalities to deal with the issues of the loss of water, amongst other things.

So this is a big competition, as I indicated; we have long started,” Maboya adds.