Unregistered driving schools mushroom

Untrained instructors teach driving to thousands; regulatory body sits idle
For thousands of aspiring drivers of motor vehicles, the country has only 10 registered learners’ schools and five ‘qualified’ instructors, according to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).
With over 50,000 vehicles taking to the roads or applying for registration every year and another 1.2 million already on the roads, thousands of men and women are rushing to learn driving as the sector remains one of the most guaranteed job markets in the country.
In the capital, hundreds of unregistered driving schools are sprouting every day and individuals with little or no knowledge about traffic rules are working there as instructors. Business of these illegally driving schools is booming, as their course fees are much cheaper than registered schools. While a registered school charges Tk 8,000 for a month, an unregistered one demands one-third of the rate for the same package attracting youths from all over the country.
The entire sector is gripped with problems resulting from years of negligence and indifference by the relevant authority. At present the number of ‘genuine’ driver’s license holders is less than a million, according to BRTA officials. But lack of proper training even for genuine license holders is causing accidents as well as mayhem on the city streets, BRTA officials admitted.
They however said that only two committees have been formed recently to oversee ‘advanced driving test’ for instructors and to allow more driving schools in the country.
According to an investigation, most instructors who are teaching driving to hundreds of people of all ages lack basic knowledge about traffic laws and regulations, which directly contributes to the chaotic situation on the roads of the country.
The instructors follow age-old manual that prescribes using of horn at every intersection. The pupil is wrongly taught to cut corners while turning right, to use emergency lights for going straight at an intersection and to randomly flash headlights for unnecessary reasons. Most of these so-called instructors also fail to teach learners the aspects of road safety.
The regulatory body of the sector, the BRTA, has chalked out a guideline for the driving schools. However, operators of these “illegally” running driving schools have rejected the guideline terming it ‘unrealistic’ and ‘unfriendly’ to small investors.
“Although we are teaching for over five years and trying to help the poor section of the learners, we remain unregistered because that requires own premises with enough spaces for class rooms, motor parts display laboratory, driving simulator, qualified driving instructors and vehicles fitted with duel pedals to run such a business,” says Golap Chandra Saha, a self employed instructor and a former chauffeur of a multinational company.
Macadam, one of country’s foremost and registered driving schools operating from Dhanmondi residential area, offers all facilities for the students with guarantee of success for a ‘genuine’ driver’s license.
Bimal Samadar, Public Relations Officer of Macadam, said that over 99 percent of their clients are aspiring non-professional drivers. Samadar added that whenever they recruit instructors they ensure educational qualifications and put them through a short training course.
“There is virtually no qualified instructor in our country so we have to train them to become instructors for our own fleet of training vehicles,” Samadar said.

Courtesy of The Daily Star