Rise of the tradies: Record numbers sign up as apprentices
25 Apr, 2021 05:00 PM
7 minutes to read
Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation students on a tour in Havelock North. Photo / Paul Taylor
Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation students on a tour in Havelock North. Photo / Paul Taylor
More school leavers are training to become builders, electricians and plumbers: apprenticeships in traditional trades have nearly doubled in the past year.
Data from the Ministry of Education shows the number of new apprentices under the age of 18 jumped from 460 in the six months from August 2019 to 810 for the same period in 2020.
This is supported by Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) data for enrolments in tertiary and vocational study that shows a 17.6 per cent increase from December 2019 to December 2020. The total numbers went from 45,155 in 2019 and 57,035 in 2020.
Women find their calling in nontraditional apprenticeships
MARIA YOUNG, Charleston Gazette-Mail
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) Just a few months after Angel George became a single mom to two pre-teen nephews, COVID-19 hit, bringing with it a kind of chaos that was frightening, now that she was a parent.
“I actually received an email from my company and they told me that they wanted me to finish out the work day and that they would be having to let me go because of COVID, which is kind of like a hard hit, you know?” she said.
She has an undergraduate degree in fine arts that she’s passionate about but it hadn’t led to the kind of stability she needed. After the layoff, she applied for food stamps briefly, and launched an online job search that didn’t seem promising at the time.
WATCH | Female plumber revamps orphanage for free on World Plumbing Day 12 March 2021 - 13:19
Shamiela Cloete removes an old sink from a bathroom wall and begins removing the taps from the ceramic basin.
“When I tell people who don t know that I am a plumber, they react with, A plumber? Really? Why? and I answer them with, Why not? It s not just males who can do this job, females can also do it and we are here to change the world,” said Cloete.
Cloete is in her third year of a plumbing apprenticeship run by the College of Cape Town and as part of World Plumbing Day she was working alongside dozens of qualified plumbers to revamp the plumbing systems at Holy Cross Orphanage in Parow Valley on Thursday.
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S.F. Mayor London Breed (center right) wields a ceremonial shovel at the groundbreaking for a supportive housing complex.Lea Suzuki / The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
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A worker sweeps outside the existing union hall at the site of the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 38 project where 499 units of housing are being built in addition to the supportive housing complex at 53 Colton St.Lea Suzuki / The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
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The plumbers union hall is under construction, flanked by the existing one (left) and the Civic Center