Winnipeg, Manitoba — Manitoba has tabbed more than $1.4 million for schools to update vocation learning equipment and improve hands-on training, Education Minister Wayne Ewasko announced last Friday.
Thirty-five Manitoba schools will benefit from one-time grants aimed to improve various technical, vocational and industrial arts programs, which include courses teaching techniques in automotive repair.
“We’re keeping up with the times—making sure that students are working on the best, most up-to-date equipment that they could possibly have within their own shops and vocational programming,” said Ewasko during a news conference held at Kildonan-East Collegiate’s auto shop.
Kildonan-East Collegiate offers 11 vocational programs to its students, grades nine through 12. The high school has secured funding to purchase an electric vehicle kit for hands-on science, electric and automotive training.
Principal Darwin MacFarlane told Manitoba’s The Record that he hopes students will be excited about the potential opportunity to build and take apart an electric vehicle.
“The infrastructure in Manitoba for electric vehicles isn’t there yet, but it’s coming,” he said. “We really wanted our students to have that opportunity.
MacFarlane also said several programs were affected by the pandemic, and that “teaching [technical education] at home doesn’t work.”
“We know that coming out of the pandemic, we’re going to need to make sure that our kids, our students are skilled-up and ready for post-pandemic life; to help with the economic recovery right here in Manitoba.”
