Nghe An: Concerned about tuition increase, number of people registering for driving lessons increases dramatically

In the role of a student, we went to several training facilities to ask for the application with the earliest exam conditions, but all of them said that it was impossible and the facilities did not dare to accept the application, guaranteeing the exam in 2020; if the student still wanted to submit, they would have to wait until the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021 to take the exam to get the license.

To verify the information, we conducted a survey at a number of centers and learned that, up to this point, most training facilities have received enough driver training quotas for the whole year of 2020 and are no longer interested in accepting applications. Representatives of the centers said that because everyone wants to study and take the exam early during this period, the centers are under a lot of pressure and inconvenience.

Class C driving practice class at the driving course of a driving training center. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Talking to some students, we learned that the reason for the sudden increase in the number of people learning to drive is because there is information that the tuition fee for driving training will soon double and the training will be managed more strictly. In response to the above information, a representative of the Nghe An Department of Transport affirmed: There is no such thing as a sudden and sudden increase in tuition fees and if there is an increase, it will be moderate and have a roadmap.

At the same time, the representative of the Department of Transport also confirmed that according to Circular No. 38 dated October 8, 2019, the Ministry of Transport amended the regulations on training and testing of road motor vehicle drivers to be stricter, accordingly, from May 1, 2020, theory learners will have to study in a concentrated manner and take attendance; the set of theory test questions will increase from the current 450 questions to 600 questions; from January 1, 2021, practice vehicles must be equipped with GPS positioning devices with facial recognition to connect to the Center and the General Department of Roads; training centers must invest in installing cabins simulating car cockpits... With many of these regulations, many people want to study earlier to avoid trouble.

According to a representative of the Vehicle and Driver Management Department, Nghe An Department of Transport: The number of cars is increasing, the demand for driving lessons increases every year and recently the Government issued Decree 100/2019/CP prohibiting alcohol and beer while driving and has a maximum fine of up to 40 million VND and license revocation for up to 23 months, causing many families to send their children to driving lessons, so the demand has increased slightly, which is understandable. However, the sudden increase in demand for driving lessons as in the past is due to inadequate access to information. And although the demand for driving lessons has increased dramatically, the training quota and capacity of the facilities have been regulated, so they cannot accept more applications.

Nghe An has 9 training facilities, of which 3 have the function of testing drivers, each course has 600 - 700 students. Photo: Nguyen Hai

In order to ensure the quality and characteristics of driver's license training, the training target is related to each type of vehicle, so it is not possible to train more because it is related to the conditions of the yard, equipment and additional teachers according to regulations. Currently, the tuition fee is being calculated and built by each Center for the Driver Training Association to discuss and agree on, then submit to the Department of Finance for consideration and decision.

Currently, with 9 driving training facilities, including 3 testing centers, each Nghe An course trains from 8,500 - 9,000 people and each year the province trains and issues over 30,000 driving licenses.

If the new tuition fee is issued, it will certainly not increase as much as rumored, because if there is a real need but the tuition fee is too high, students will go to other centers or other provinces. Therefore, at this time, the centers must also consider when increasing tuition fees. On the part of the people, they need to be calm, consider if there is a real need to learn to drive; they should not learn to follow the trend and the crowd mentality, leading to unnecessary waste of time and money.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Thanh - Deputy Chief of Office of Department of Transport