Wesley Beukes (19) is currently an apprentice at the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Acacemy (Acra) in Edenvale.
This Edelweiss resident is studying to become a qualified refrigeration technician.
“To be able to follow this trade you need Grade 12 with a 50% pass rate in maths and science,” he says.
For three years he will be working for a company in Midrand who will pay his apprentice salary and college fees.
This modern apprenticeship programme at Acra fast-tracks artisan development.
This is done through up-front institutional training until all competencies have been achieved in a simulation environment, followed by workplace exposure over the required 80 to 90 weeks and which ends in a trade test.
Wesley is working under the mentorship of a qualified artisan as prescribed by the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority (Merseta).
The company he is employed at is accredited at Merseta.
Wesley will be send to college for three to four weeks at a time for the next three years until he competed the course and wrote his final artisan exam.
Although this is a new career choice and everything is new to him, he can’t wait to go to college.
At the moment he is gaining first hand information from a qualified artisan he has to work with.
“Everyday is a new experience for me and I hope to, after the three years of studying, be just as good as my mentor,” he says.
