In the absence of a regulatory body, a large number of private driving schools are flourishing with a sole purpose of minting money in every nook and corner of Islamabad, leaving the people unsatisfied.
There is no law for the estimated 50 private driving schools in the city, thus they are free to make money. Students also often complain that the trainers are not qualified enough and charge extremely high fee for the courses. The fee normally ranges from Rs 2500 for a 15-day course and can go up to Rs10, 000 for a month. This excludes the extra fee for teaching traffic rules and road signs. Ahmed Murtaza, a student of a driving school at G-9 Markaz, while sharing his experience told Pakistan Today that his experience had not been useful. He enrolled himself twice, but only became proficient after practicing on his own car.
“These driving schools have no standards. Their only interest is making money.”
He said, “They only provide you the driving seat for 15 minutes with dual control and do not allow the student to practically control the car and learn driving.”
“They should firstly teach the driving techniques in open grounds and give the aspirant drivers full control of vehicle to make them confident enough about driving,” he explained.
A female driving instructor, on request of the anonymity, while talking to Pakistan Today said, “Even though I am a driving instructor but honestly speaking there is no scope of learning for the students as we keep the full control of vehicle with dual control.”
She claimed that it was just another business as she had not find any student satisfied while leaving the school and many girls extended their stay with a hope that perhaps they would learn driving.
Tahira Abid, 23, a student at a private school, was of the opinion that she had not been taught any theory. “I am into my 12th day and have still not acquired the confidence to drive on busy roads,” she said.
She added that the instructor carried three to four students in the vehicle in a single go, which wasted the time of other students as they provided only 15 minutes for driving, but consumed around one hour.
“The presence of other girls, who remain busy in gossips, make it difficult to concentrate on driving. It was much more hard for me as I am a shy person and do not feel comfortable in such a mess. I informed my instructor about the problem, but she didn’t pay any attention,” she lamented.
On the other hand, the owner of a private driving school in F-10, denied the allegations and said they were following the proper procedures.
“It is impossible for us to ask them drive the vehicle on their own, as it is difficult for them to get full control in the beginning.”
He said due to the fuel prices and CNG shortage, it had become difficult for him to run the school and could not teach the student one by one; therefore, the students from same locality learnt at the same time.
