(ANS – Rome) – The National Skills Competitions have been going on in Italy since April. These are contests in professional skills, reserved for young people “with intelligent hands”. Almost 200 young people from Technical Training Centres all over Italy took part.

The main purpose of the initiative, which is being held this year for the fifth time, is to encourage young students in their final year of technical training to raise the standard of their skills, and allow students from different areas to share their knowledge and experience.  It also serves to promote contact between their instructors and it is an excellent “visiting card” for the Technical Training coordinated by the Professional Updating Programme of the National Centre for Salesian Works (CNOS-FAP), with the involvement of the industrial world.

On 20 April last in Venice, prizes were awarded in the National Competition for the Graphic Sector, with entries based on the theme “Honest Citizen”.

In Genoa, 22 young people entered the contest in the Electrical and Electronic Sector to design a system of automation using the Zelio Logic module. The sponsor of the display. Schneider Electric, not only awarded three student bursaries to the first three competitors, but also paid tribute to the participants by donating automation materials to improve the equipment in the workshops.

In the Automobile Sector, at the headquarters of Fiat in Turin, the participants tested ways of checking and preventing breakdown of vehicles.

At San Benigno Canavese, young chefs from the Hotel and Tourism Sector competed with dishes typical of the district from which they came.

In Florence, the cradle of the Italian language, the emphasis was on culture.T he theme was that proposed by the Rector Major in the Strenna: to rediscover the meaning of Don Bosco’s slogan “Honest Citizen and Good Christian”. Competitions in Mathematics and Science were also held in Florence.

Still in progress are the competitions in Computers at Bari, in the Mechanical Sector at Verona, and, in Trieste, the competition for the manufacture of Security Doors and Windows.

All the meetings were marked by a typically Salesian family spirit. One young contestant said, “During this experience I was able to touch with my own hand the real work of Don Bosco. In the times of prayer, during the competitions, the outings and free time spent with other boys and girls from the Technical Training Centres I experienced love, commitment, kindness and faith.”

“The National Competitions are the proof that there is an intelligence that lies in people’s hands, and the system of Technical Instruction and Training seeks to develop it” was the final comment of Fr Gianni Filippin, National Director of CNOS-FAP.

Published 15/05/2013