New CAPS Subjects: Maintenance and Upholstery
Date Published: January 6, 2021

The Minister of Education, Angie Motshekga has announced the addition of 13 new subjects in the CAPS curriculum.
Here is everything you need to know about Maintenance and Upholstery as a subject:
- The benefits
- What is Maintenance and Upholstery about?
- Topics that Will Be Covered
- Aims
- Time Allocation
- Content overview
The Benefit of The Added Subjects
The 13 new added subjects will equip grade 8 and 9 learners for a specific trade or career if they decide to leave school before matric.
Having studied Maintenance and Upholstery as a subject, school-leavers will be equipped with the relevant skills to join the field of Maintenance and Upholstery
What is Maintenance and Upholstery
Maintenance and Upholstery as a subject covers the skills and knowledge required to perform professional repair and maintenance work at a basic level focusing on the household and small construction environments.
Maintenance skills are used by handymen who prevent the breaking down of materials.
Handymen keep records of repairs that were done and the dates when equipment was last repaired, inspected or serviced. This helps them to create an inspection and repair schedule.
Topics that will be covered
- Generics
- Metal work
- Mechanical Maintenance
- Plumbing
- Painting and water-proofing
- Glazing
- Electrical
- Woodworking
- Bricklaying and Plastering
- Upholstery
Subject aims
Maintenance and Upholstery as a subject aim at assisting learners in gaining the following skills:
- Know and apply basic skills to solve metal work problems
- Maintain basic mechanical devices
- Maintain plumbing installations
- Apply basic bricklaying, plastering, flooring, tiling painting and water-proofing skills used in
- the building and construction industry.
- Apply basic glazing skills used in the building and construction industry
- Maintain electrical appliances
- Apply basic woodworking skills used in the building and construction industry
- Know and apply basic skills used in the upholstery industry.
Time Allocation
In a five-day cycle, a total of 2 hours must be dedicated to this subject for all the information to be taught and practical work to be completed.
Content overview
Here is the content overview for Maintenance and Upholstery as released by the Department of Education.












Author: Omega Fumba