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Qatar

Driving schools to absorb more trainees as COVID-19 restrictions relaxed

Published: 11 Jul 2021 - 08:22 am | Last Updated: 28 Dec 2021 - 11:40 am
Peninsula

Sidi Mohamed | The Peninsula

Increasing the capacity of driving schools to 50 percent would relieve the pressure on these schools to meet customers’ demand, particularly for light vehicle driving licences.

As per the gradual lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, phase 3, driving schools can operate at an increased capacity of 50 percent instead of the 30 percent in the previous phase. According to the Ministry of Public Health guidelines, which came into effect on Friday, all employees must be vaccinated. 

“We have a large number of learners in the previous period. We stopped their training due to the measures imposed by the government due to the coronavirus. The number of learners on the waiting list also increased.

The new phase of lifting restrictions that started two days ago will help us absorb the number of trainees,” Mohamed Al Zain Ibrahim, Executive Manager of Gulf Driving School, told The Peninsula. 

Ibrahim said that all the school’s staff received vaccination.

Speaking about the new procedures and their significance to prospective road users, he said: “The driving licence in Qatar is necessary for everyone nowadays. There are some companies which insist their employees must secure a driving licence.”

Ibrahim also praised the measure taken by the General Directorate of Traffic, which increased the number of candidates a traffic supervisor can handle, especially for the road test. For example, instead of each officer doing a road test for 10 people, they can now oversee the tests for 15 people.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim noted that the demand for heavy-vehicle licences is less compared to light-vehicle driving.

The General Directorate of Traffic said earlier that it had tightened mechanisms of issuing driving licence to decrease the rate of injuries and deaths resulting from traffic accidents. Driving schools have witnessed many developments such as the unified Driving Training System in all driving schools, and more are underway in coordination with the General Directorate of Traffic.