In a boost for its already successful driver training outreach across the Eastern Cape, the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) signed an agreement on 3 December with Ingwe College in Bizana to facilitate the roll-out of driver simulator-based training.
The training forms part of a free drivers training programme for students at Ingwe College campuses in Mount Frere, Lusikisiki, Bizana, Maluti and Mount Fletcher.
The agreement gives the CDC the go-ahead to supply driver simulators to Ingwe College as a kick-start to the first phase of the driver training programme. It also provides for student training modules and training of a facilitator to support the students.
The driver simulator-based training is the first step of the training programme and affords a first-time driver the opportunity to learn in a safe environment before venturing out onto the road.
CDC marketing and communications head, Ayanda Vilakazi, said the CDC is focused on rolling out its pioneering corporate social investment programmes, of which the learner driver training is one, in the rural Eastern Cape.
“The problem we seek to overcome is the lack of adequately equipped training facilities, specifically laboratories, workshops and equipment, typical of rural areas in South Africa. Rural underdevelopment will simply continue unless strategic interventions are made at multiple levels. The driver programme is just one of the steps we are taking to ensure that socio-economic development opportunities reach our rural areas.
“The expansion of our programmes to the greater Eastern Cape is in line with the CDC’s objectives to enhance training, skills and socio-economic development in the Eastern Cape and South Africa in general.”
The CDC’s driver training programme has been operational since 2008 and it benefits more than 500 unemployed youth annually, helping them gain a driver’s licence – a hurdle which often stands in the way of them gaining employment.
“Many potential learners have never sat behind a steering wheel, let alone have any driving experience. It is essential that these individuals spend time on simulators to gain confidence before they drive on a public road. A driver’s licence is the one aspect that really prepares individuals for the employment market,” said Vilakazi, adding that the driver simulator training should also not be the last step in obtaining a license, but rather a critical first step to understanding the challenges most drivers take for granted.
Ingwe College’s registrar for Institutional Development, Dakile Tantsi, said one of the problems facing their learners is the scarcity of proper driver training facilities in the rural areas and the fact that many students are unable to afford the training.
“More than 90 per cent of our students do not have a drivers licence. This is a concern for us, and when we heard about the driver simulator training programme offered by Coega we were eager to implement it. We want our students to be employable,” said Tantsi.
Currently, the CDC is providing support services such as training, monitoring and provision of driver simulators to the driving training programme it established at the FET colleges of Ikhala in Queenstown and Buffalo City College in East London. The CDC conducts regular site visits to monitor the training administered and offers its support where necessary.
The driver simulators are compliant with the K53 driving curriculum, and cover the modules of identification of components, pre-trip inspection, starting procedures, moving-off and changing gears, handling of vehicle (hand-eye co-ordination exercises), parallel parking, alley docking, turn in the road, incline start, highway driving (with different weather conditions), city driving in basic and advance mode and a yard summary. A progress report is also generated after the completion of each module for the benefit of the user of the driver simulator.
In May the CDC signed an agreement with the driver simulator company, Afsim, becoming the sole South African distributor of the driver simulator machinery after its successful implementation of the simulator training.
Alan Straton
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