This year the Latvian national team accompanied by the State Education Development Agency (VIAA) is going to the biggest global competition of vocational education and skills excellence WorldSkills 2015. For the first time it will take place in Latin America, Brazil from the 11th to the 16th August. During four days 7 young professionals from Latvia will present their skills within the competition of 53 countries.
The WorldSkills 2015 competition should be considered the biggest event during the history of this competition. The WorldSkills competition is growing and expanding every time, the competition becomes tougher and receiving a prize is an increasingly higher achievement. There will be more than 200,000 spectators at the competition observing the work of 1200 competitors - young professionals and students of vocational education establishments, demonstrating their skills in 50 various professions.
The competition program is filled with various initiatives and events. The event "One School One Country" taking place on the 11th August is one of such events during which the Latvian delegation will go to a school in Brazil to present the rich culture, major events in Latvia and to speak about the professions represented at the competition. In the evening on the same day the opening ceremony of WorldSkills 2015 will take place and the Latvian national delegation and experts will participate there. During the next four days, from the 12th to the 15th August the young professionals will present their skills and know-how in competition of 1200 participants in order to fight for prizes. The results will be announced on the 16th August when the official prize-giving ceremony.
The VIAA was training more than 20 potential competitors for this important event. After several months of preparation seven young professionals were selected for participation at the WorldSkills 2015 competition and will fight in order to become the best young professionals in the world:
- Haralds Saušs, Riga Technical School of Tourism and Creative Industry, cooking;
- Anna Līva Traumane, Riga Secondary School of Design and Arts, visual merchandising/window dressing;
- Reinis Gusts, Cēsis Vocational Secondary School, joinery;
- Linda Osīte, Riga State Technical College, graphic design;
- Artūrs Krapāns, Riga Technical College, Web design;
- Maksims Ivancovs, Riga Technical College, electrical installations, and
- Mārtiņš Kukojs, Riga Technical School of Tourism and Creative Industry, restaurant service.
The Latvian team participated in WorldSkills for the first time in 2011. Currently there are 72 member states in WorldSkills International from all over the world. Each country is represented in this organisation by just one institution delegated by the state; in Latvia this is the State Education Development Agency.
A video presenting a broader insight about the WorldSkills competition is available here: www.youtube.com
See the photos of the Latvian national team here: flickr.com
News about the success of the young professionals at the competition are available on the Facebook page SkillsLatvia and on the VIAA website section “WorldSkills”.
