Global Economy

Government to remove minimum education requirement for transport vehicle drivers


NEW DELHI: The ministry of road transport and highways has proposed to remove the requirement of minimum educational qualification for driving a transport vehicle, shifting the focus on competent drivers training and stringent skill testing in a bid to ensure road safety.

Under Rule 8 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, a transport vehicle driver needs to have passed class 8.

In a recent meeting at the transport ministry, Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar had requested for waiver of the educational qualification condition for drivers from the economically backward Mewat region where the population is dependent for livelihood on low-income earning pursuits including driving, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

“(With) driving being more a matter of skill than of educational competence, the condition of minimum educational qualification acts as a hindrance for the otherwise eligible unemployed youth,” the statement said.

The removal of this requirement will open up employment opportunities for a large number of unemployed persons, especially the youth in the country.

The decision will also help meet the shortage of nearly 22 lakh drivers in the transport and logistics sector, the ministry said. Around 2 lakh skill centres will be opened for training of drivers.

The ministry has emphasized that training imparted by a school or establishment as mentioned in the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 should ensure that the driver can read signs and perform logistical duty such as maintenance of driver logs, inspection of trucks and trailers, submission of pre-trip and post-trip records, determination of discrepancies in paperwork, effective communication to report safety hazards.

The Ministry had already proposed the removal of requirement for educational qualification in the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill that got passed by the previous Lok Sabha.

The process of amendment to the Rule 8 of Central Motor Vehicles 1989 has been initiated in this regard and the draft notification in this regard will be issued soon, the statement said.





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