No P30,000 Registration Fee For Driving Schools - BQA
Correspondent | Monday January 16, 2017 16:16
Social media was on overdrive last weekend with some influential voices blasting the BQA for levying driving schools that are mostly run by the poor P30,000 as well as requiring such facilities as offices for registration and accreditation.
However, BQA manager for institutional audit, Sandra Pabalinga yesterday denied the allegations and emphasised that BQA does not, in fact regulate driving schools, stating that as it has always been the case, the driving school industry continues to be regulated by the Department of Transport.
Pabalinga said there had been instances whereby certain training providers such as in the area of heavy plant operation, mostly in the mining sector, approached the BQA to be registered and accredited as training providers to enable them to render services that are recognised by a national qualification body.
She stressed that in that respect the BQA has worked well with such training providers and developed a training standard for them.
She, however, was quick to emphasise that while the registration and accreditation of such services is not mandatory, certain service providers see the accreditation and registration as giving them impetus as they seek to do training for companies.
Pabalinga said some defensive driving schools for instance had also approached the BQA in the past seeking accreditation and registration to enable them to take advantage of some opportunities that they saw in the market.
“For instance, a company, which trains their drivers might want to be reimbursed, but to claim the funds, it is a requirement to have used a training provider who is recognised by the BQA.
So in some cases, we do have some driving schools that seek to be registered and accredited as education and training providers with the BQA, and we do help them,” she said.