Director for Driver Testing and Licensing at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Kafui Semevo, has revealed that the number of persons who sit for the Authority’s theory tests are more than those who participate in the practical exam.
He explained that some of the students who manage to scale through the theoretical aspect in acquiring a driver’s license most often than not are confronted with the financial challenge of sitting for the practical exam. Mr Semevo noted that collaboration with stakeholders is key in order to find a permanent solution to the problem.
“If you go back to the figures, you’ll see that the total number of persons who go for the theory test for example are more than the persons who go for the practical tests. That clearly tells you that even the economic reasons are also cited because the licensing process is divided into two where you obtain your learner license, do your theory, before you go for your practical. So, the payment regime is in two stages. People are able to pay for the first stage and they are not able to raise funds for the second stage. So, if you see the disparity, you see that most of them will not come to complete the second stage…”
Kafui Semevo
His comments follow assertions that some individuals employ ways to get their licenses and road worthy certificates without necessarily going through the entire process of acquiring a license as they ough to.
Effectiveness of driving tests
Commenting on the phenomenon, Mr Semevo indicated that the Greater Accra Region for instance has a pass rate of around 80%. He expressed that in matters relating to driving tests, there have been some “improvement in those figures” from the Upper West and comes as a surprise to him because some regions of the country do not have ample driving schools in comparison to their counterparts in south. As a result, he explained that the number of persons who go through the driver training in the Northern Regions do not have the advantages persons in the south do.
“Therefore, if they are taking the same test with persons down south and they are almost having the same pass range as the people down south, of course it is surprising and it’s just because there are certain measures that have also been put in to ensure that they are not too much deprived of the opportunity to also have training before the test is done”.
Kafui Semevo
In terms of logistics between the Upper West Region and the Greater Accra Region, Mr Semevo noted that there isn’t much of a “disparity” between the two, as they are appreciably resourced.
Commenting on measures put in place to ensure that the Upper West Region isn’t deficit in terms of training, Mr Semevo intimated that because there aren’t many training schools, DVLA collaborates with existing schools to ensure that they also provide training for everybody who goes to apply for the driver’s license.
“Sometimes what is done is they would have to go with our team to the various communities and provide the training because the numbers are less and sometimes, they are far from the communities. We have an outreach programme, so, they do go to the communities to provide training”.
Kafui Semevo
