The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has decided to remove requirement of minimum educational qualification (class 8th pass) for transport vehicle drivers in country.

Key Highlights :

• Background: Currently, as per the  Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 a transport vehicle driver must need to have passed Class VIII. Initially, Haryana state government had requested Centre for waiver of minimum educational qualification condition for drivers belonging to economically backward Mewat region of Haryana where the residing population is dependent for livelihood on low-income earning pursuits such as driving, and even though many people in region possessed required driving skill but not had required educational qualification, thus were finding it difficult to obtain driving license.
• Benefits: This move will benefit skilled persons in economically backward areas and will open up employment opportunities for a large number of unemployed youth (especially rural areas), who may not have a formal education but are otherwise skilled and literate. It will also help meet shortage of nearly 22 lakh drivers in country’s transport and logistics sector, which is hindering economic growth.
• Balancing Act: Although removing the minimum educational qualification requirement is being welcomed but emphasis must be laid upon training and skill testing of drivers so that road safety is not compromised in any way.

Key Decisions:

• MoRTH emphasized that anyone applying for a driving license will have to mandatory pass a stringent skill test.
• It also made a point that training imparted by a school/establishment as mentioned in the Motor Vehicles Act 1988, should compulsorily ensure that driver can read signs and perform logistical duty like maintaining driver logs, submitting pre-trip and post-trip records, inspecting trucks/trailers, determining any kind of discrepancies in paperwork as well as must have effective communication to report safety hazards.
• Since driving schools are subject to regulatory control by states therefore, training imparted should be of high quality, and must cover all aspects of driving a particular type of motor vehicle.

Way Ahead :

• The central government has initiated process of amendment to rule 8 of Central Motor Vehicles (CMV) 1989 for removing minimum education qualification criteria and draft notification in this regard will be issued soon.