28 Nov
Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications, Dato Paduka Hj Awang Alaihuddin bin Pehin Orang
Kaya Di Gadong Seri Lela Dato Seri Utama Hj Awang Mohd Taha (C) witnessing the exchange of
documents between officials of Land Transport (L) and Megamas. Picture: Courtesy of Land Transport
DRIVING Schools in Brunei Darussalam will be audited and the testing procedureswill be reviewed as part of the Ministry of Communications bid to raise the nation’s driving standards.
This was outlined by Dato Paduka Hj Awang Alaihuddin bin Pehin Orang Kaya Di Gadong Seri Lela Dato Seri Utama Haji Awang Taha, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications who spoke to The Brunei Times on the sidelines of a signing ceremony between the Land Transport Department (LTD) and Megamas Training Company Sdn Bhd.
“What you are seeing today is emphasis on how to produce good disciplined drivers,” said Dato Paduka Hj Awang Alaihuddin.
“We believe that good driving schools, with good instructors, will help produce good and disciplined drivers, that is the bottom line,” he stressed.
The Permanent Secretary highlighted that after the training for the driving schools is conducted, this will be followed by audits carried out on driving schools.
He added that it allows the Ministry to “keep a constant review” on its driving test procedures and content.
“The bottom line is we want to upgrade the standards,” emphasised Dato Paduka Hj Awang Alaihuddin.
Following which, the Permanent Secretary said the standards will be reviewed, with the auditing carried out by the ministry in particular to assess whether the driving schools have achieved the required standard.
“When we do the auditing we’ll assess other factors, like the condition of the driving school itself, or whether it’s a conducive environment, whether the curriculum is sufficient, the contents are sufficient, instructors sufficient, all these causes will help us give the information, when we finally review them,” he said.
“Hopefully with the help of a company like Megamas we can help further the standards and quality of driving and road safety in the country,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mohd Roger Ainsworth of Megamas, said the training is “an attempt to try to improve the overall attitudes and behaviours of drivers in Brunei to reduce incidents and accidents which for such a small country is relatively high”.
Mohd Roger said that in the experience of the company, they saw that there was “a need to try and improve the quality of driving schools and the instruction given”.
“The different standards of training offered at those schools needed to be raised so that there is a consistency and higher quality given to Bruneian students,” he said.
The Brunei Times
Izam Said Ya’akub
Sunday, November 28, 2010