On the 6th of April the price winners and the best new talents were revealed in 19 skills contests in the national skills competition for young professionals SkillsLatvia 2023 organized by the State Education Development Agency (VIAA). The most medals were won by the students of Liepaja State Technical School and Jelgava Technical School among more than 120 contestants from 30 vocational education establishments in Latvia.
Totally 23 education establishments of 30 Latvian vocational education establishments were awarded medals. Most medals were earned by the students of Liepaja State Technical School and Jelgava Technical School, each won 6 medals, of which Liepaja State Technical School was awarded 3 and Jelgava Technical School 1 gold medal. Regarding the number of medals, the next best results were demonstrated by Ogre Technical School, Riga Art and Media Technical College, Ventspils Technical School and Vidzeme Technology and Design Technical School, each of the education establishment earned 4 medals accordingly.
“This year’s performance of the contestants demonstrates the high competence of the new professional talents and vocational education establishments, providing a supportive environment for improvement of youth skills. This year the contestants showed high commitment and desire to compete to be the best, simultaneously maintaining enthusiasm and fervour for the given task. It is pleasant to see that the contestants are ambitious, already at this age setting a goal to achieve. Such traits of character will contribute to further growth. SkillsLatvia is a unique platform to use at the beginning of the professional career developing one’s skills and enabling next employers to notice them”, Dita Traidas, SEDA Director said.
During the two days of the competition the participants from the whole Latvia demonstrated their talents, knowledge and professionalism in visual merchandising and window dressing, fashion design, fashion technology, computer network management, graphic design, mobile robotics, mechatronics, hairdressing, cooking, restaurant service, hotel reception, electrical installations, engineering communications, wall tiling, painting and decorating, cabinetmaking, plastering and dry wall system, heavy truck maintenance, transportation logistics. The work tasks of the competition were brought closer to the requirements of international vocational excellence competitions, and the youth performance was assessed by the jury of experts from more than 60 fields.
The list of all laureates and represented education establishments is available here.
Photo gallery with the competition is available in VIAA Flickr account.