'Educaional qualification a barrier for drivers'

NEW DELHI: The transport ministry has decided to do away with the minimum educational qualification required to get a licence to drive heavy vehicles (buses and trucks). Sources said the law ministry earlier rejected a similar proposal, prompting the transport department to bring the change in law.
Drivers involved in 3.35 road lakh accidents out of 4.8 lakh in India in 2016 had educational qualification of Class VIII and above. “There is no data to establish that accidents are linked to uneducated drivers,” said a transport department official.
Transport officials said the provision to end the minimum Class-VIII qualification to drive heavy vehicles had already been proposed in the Motor Vehicle Amendment Bill.
Officials said Haryana CM M L Khattar during his meeting with Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday raised the issue of how the condition of minimum educational qualification had proved to be a barrier for many trained drivers from backward regions. "Just holding a certificate does not mean that the person is literate. All licences are issued after a person passes the objective test, which includes questions on the road signs, signages and the applicant is made to read. So, there was a plan to introduce a provision that every applicant must be able to read and write. That would suffice rather than replying on school certificates that people can easily get," said a transport official.
Recently, Rajasthan HC had ordered the state government to withdraw licence of all illiterate drivers as they were "virtually a menace for the pedestrians". Road safety activists have been demanding restoration of minimum qualification clause in the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill saying doing away with the provision is detrimental to safety of road users.