Proposal for Private Hire Car Driver Vocational Licence Tests to be Conducted in Mother Tongue Languages

17 Miss Cheng Li Hui asked the Minister for Transport (a) what is the number of applicants for Private Hire Car Driver's Vocational Licences (PDVL) who do not possess a GCE "O" or "N" Level pass in English; (b) what is the number of such applicants who then sat for the Workplace Literacy Computer Adaptive Test for Conversational English; and (c) whether there are plans for PDVL tests to be conducted in the major mother tongues.

The Second Minister for Transport (Mr Ng Chee Meng) (for the Minister for Transport): Mr Speaker, more than 90% of our PDVL applicants possess at least a D7 grade in GCE "O" or "N" Level English exams. The rest of the applicants passed the Level 3 Listening, Reading and Speaking modules of the Workplace Literacy Computer Adaptive Test instead.

Private hire car drivers must be able to read and speak simple English. This is so that they can navigate roads and buildings, the names of which are primarily in English. This also ensures that the drivers can communicate effectively with all commuters, both Singaporeans and including tourists. This is why the PDVL course and test are conducted in English. There are no plans to conduct the tests in other languages.