In the case where a person living in South Africa wishes to obtain a learner’s licence, if illiterate, dyslexic etc. it is necessary to produce the following documents:
- Application form
- Affidavit explaining the situation
- Letter from the school, should an applicant be in a special school for learners with learning disabilities
- Copy of ID
Format of an oral learner’s licence test:
Oral tests are one-on-one where an examiner asks the applicant the questions.
The applicant answers the questions.
The examiner marks the answer sheet on behalf of the applicant.
The applicant is informed of the outcome of the test.
Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?
HOWEVER, problems arise in Gauteng since the computerised system is not geared for oral tests.
So, because nobody in the driving licence testing centres seem to know how to provide oral tests, the applicant might be coerced into booking computerised tests, repeatedly, at great personal cost, since the time limit causes him/her to fail over and over again, despite assurances at the Technical committee of no time limit for special needs applicants. This is just not true!
According to the Tasima Power Point presentation given to the driving school industry on 31st March 2013, “If you are not done within 1 hour (60 minutes) the CLLT system will automatically end the test.” That is the reality, which causes repeated failures if someone is a little slower to answer.
How is it possible that this situation can be permitted in a country with a high number of illiterate and special needs applicants?
Government authorities –
With all due respect, do the job you are paid to do! You are public servants, so serve the public please. Service providers – provide the service please.
This might not be important to you but it is to a man who can’t feed his family!
Special needs clients in Gauteng who need driving licences are currently being prevented from earning a living or from providing for their families by this lack of preparation by those responsible for the computerised test system.
I suppose it is easy to understand why. It was a heck of a job to change the whole Province over to the new system.
BUT in the process, our special needs people have been forgotten.