What grade is your motor training school?
Driving schools across the state will be graded by the transport department, based on the quality of their training and infrastructure.
Driving schools across the state will be graded by the transport department, based on the quality of their training and infrastructure.
So the next time you go to a driving school, keep an eye out for the department’s sticker indicating the grade it was awarded.
The city’s Regional Transport Offices (RTO) have distributed to every motor driving school certificates in the form of
stickers, which have to be displayed.
“We’re in the process of distributing the stickers to driving schools across the state. The stickers will have grades A, B, C or D, which will indicate the quality of the school,” a senior RTO official said, requesting anonymity for lack of authorisation to speak to the media.
While potential customers can use the grade to gauge the quality of the school, the grade will not indicate any difference in the fees charged.
Also, a better grade will not result in an upper hand in getting driving licences.
The grading system used was based on 100 marks – 20 allotted for classroom, library and furniture, another 20 for the condition of vehicles used by the school to teach students, 25 for the background of the trainer (who needs to have cleared class 10 and have five years of experience).
The school’s syllabus carries 25 marks, and the remaining 10 are for the records they maintain.
In September, the RTOs released an assessment report, that found that only 10 per cent of driving schools were eligible for the ‘A’ grade.
Of the 272 schools in Mumbai, only 26 fell in the ‘A’ category.
“It took us eight months to complete the grading of driving schools across the state,” said Deepak Kapoor, state transport commissioner.
The schools, meanwhile, say the new grading system is not realistic.
“The RTO officials randomly came and without doing any of the checks they have mentioned, gave us a ‘B’ grade,” said a representative of a driving school in the city, who did not wish to be named.