Future miners occupy school-desks

KARVINÁ – The start of this school year at the Secondary Technology and Services School in Karviná had an exceptional atmosphere. The School started its activity as the Mining Apprentice Centre on September 1, 1950, and as such, on the first day of the new school year, the School reached its sixty-year anniversary.

“Of course, we were appropriately prepared for this event. Using the grant provided by the OKD Foundation, we reconstructed the entrance premises, whose decoration now points out the mining traditions of the School. The classrooms, workshops and other schoolrooms are titivated and are just waiting for their students,” Ladislav Kováč, Deputy Headmaster of the Secondary Technology and Services School said before the school year started.

In addition, since the last year, the School has not had just to reminiscence about its mining roots thanks to OKD’s activities. The first 39 apprentices – 29 mechanics and 10 electricians, who enrolled in the newly established fields of mining mechanic (mining fitter) and mining electrician – have already finished their first year and have not been doing badly at all. Their results do not anyway fall behind the results achieved by the other students, and in spite of the fact that a few of them changed their field of study, they were replaced by other ones.

“This year, a total of 33 students have enrolled in these fields of study. 22 have decided for the field of mining mechanic, 11 would like to become mining electricians,” specified Kováč, adding that these numbers are even higher than one year ago. The boys are attracted through the incentives offered by OKD, including for example a monthly scholarship of one thousand Czech Crowns, as well as by the promised employment they will take up after they successfully complete their apprenticeship study.

“The mining education content is regulated by the applicable general educational programmes, which are supplemented by a few specialist mining lessons. In both the fields, mining and occupational safety regarding the underground work are taught, and in addition, the future mechanics learn to work with and repair mining machinery and technology, and the electricians must study the electrical parts of the mining equipment,” Deputy Headmaster of the Secondary Technology and Services School describes the differences.

In preparing the content of these courses, the teaching staff of the School cooperated with OKD representatives so that the knowledge to be acquired by the students would be tailored made. “The cooperation with OKD is naturally wider.  The students who have finished the first year of their study had an opportunity to see the surface workshop areas at the mines during their summer volunteer jobs, and now they will carry out their practical traineeship in the workshops. They have also visited a training shaft in the Paskov Mine and look forward to the promised excursions consisting in going down the real mine areas,” added Ladislav Kováč.

The Secondary Technology and Services School in Karviná ranks among the largest and most modern secondary educational facilities in the Region. More than 1,000 students and apprentices are enrolled in 8 fields of study to be completed by obtaining the Secondary School Leaving Certificate, 9 fields of study to be completed by obtaining the Apprentice Centre Leaving Certificate and 2 follow-up fields of study. More than 300 elementary school leavers have enrolled in the first year’s fields of study at this School.

(Bohuslav Krzyžanek)