KOCHI: The fear of contracting COVID coupled with the lockdown forced several prospective seekers of driving licence to postpone their plans, resulting in their numbers plunging to a new low.
As per the report sourced from the Motor Vehicles Department, only 50,650 persons appeared for the online learner’s test ever since the department started the online test from June first week.
“The fear of Covid is said to be the major reason for the low number of candidates for the licence test. Due to the Covid protocol, driving schools are not conducting classes and it is also a reason for the low turnout. Most of them come for the test after month-long driving classes. Only those who are confident of clearing the driving tests without the help of others mostly apply for the learners’ test,” said Rajeev Puthalath, Joint Transport Commissioner.
Meanwhile, concerns over the efficiency of the online driving test have been allayed since nearly 3.8per cent of candidates failed in the online examination compared to the 1.36 per cent who had failed in the offline tests held last year. There are many who allege that the online method lacks a foolproof system to prevent malpractices during the test, which in turn erodes its credibility.
“ There were a few concerns over conducting online learner’s test but the failure percentage shows that it is also efficient. It is difficult to pinpoint whether malpractices are happening during the test. But we can evaluate the candidate during the driving test,” added Puthalath.