To keep greenhorns off the roads, a major cause behind the increasing number of road fatalities, a little over three years ago the government had proposed to introduce a driving trade course in technical schools and colleges under the Bangladesh Technical Education Board. The plan is yet to be put to work. In April 2012, the ministry of communication, as per the suggestion of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), sent a letter to the education ministry to introduce a motor-driving trade course in the curriculum of all technical schools and colleges.
The BRTA suggestion was proffered following a meeting of the National Road Safety Council to free the roads of rookie drivers, bring down accident rates and improve the traffic situation. But The Independent has learnt that the proposal has not made any headway till date. Engr Shamsul Alam, director, curriculum, of the Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB), told The Independent that the BTEB has sent several letters to the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) to take steps on the matter. “We have reviewed the communication ministry recommendation to introduce driving trade course in technical schools and colleges and have asked the directorate to take steps,” he said.
Officials of the DTE claim they have not been able to start the course in technical schools due to several reasons. “It is not an easy process. There are no instructors and the technical schools and colleges have barely the budget to afford a driving trade course facility,” a DTE official said.  
Bijoy Bhushan Paul, director of enforcement, BRTA said the transport regulator made the recommendation as about 80
unauthorised driving schools across major cities are accused of churning out hundreds of incompetent drivers with faulty
training. “Most of these drivers have been identified as one of the major reasons behind the ever increasing rate of accidents in the country,” Paul said.
Referring to BRTA statistics, he said the country has 14.23 lakh registered vehicles, but only 9.98 lakh driving licences have been issued by the agency, which indicates, over 4.25 lakh drivers operate without a licence.
“Even a large number of these licensed drivers are not competent enough, having received faulty training in unauthorised schools. Such drivers got their licence through the backdoor with help from training schools without taking a driving test,” he added.
BRTA deputy director of engineering Nurul Islam said there is a misconception among people that the BRTA provides
driving licence, but in reality the agency only issues a licence after receiving driving test results from the Driving Test Competency Board (DTCB).
“The DTCB is headed by the additional district magistrate, who is chairman of the board. The BRTA has only an assistant director on the board as member-secretary,” he added. According to
Islam, the board sends the results and recommendations to the BRTA after completion of driving tests. “The BRTA only issues the licence as per results of the tests and the board’s recommendations,” he said.
Islam further said that driving tests in the Dhaka and Chittagong circle of the BRTA are conducted five and two times a week, respectively, due to the large number of candidates. But tests are conducted once a month in 53 other BRTA circles of the country.
“The country has 41 BRTA-authorised driving schools, 26 of them in the capital. The schools can run two shifts a day and can have 30 students per shift for a four-month course.” He admitted that the number of schools is inadequate compared to the large number of aspiring candidates.
“Steps are being taken to overcome the situation. The ministry of expatriate welfare has started imparting training to aspiring drivers at 20 centres in keeping with a BRTA request. The department of youth development, under the ministry of youth and sports, will soon start driving trade course. We are providing technical assistance to the department to do so,” Islam said.
 The deputy director of the transport regulator, however, said the biggest step would be to introduce driving trade courses in technical schools and colleges. “We had suggested introduction of trade courses in technical schools and colleges so that their premises could be used for test driving,” he added.
According to him, if trade courses are introduced, more people would be interested in joining them.