Gaza's driving schools take students for a ride
Schools and instructors with dubious ties to driving examiners are taking financial advantage of students in Gaza.
Getting a driver's license is not easy in Gaza today. Some driving schools impose harsh conditions and, some say, go as far as blackmailing students. Some schools apparently also do not even provide students with the training needed to take the driving test.
Alaa Mushtahi, owner of Al-Naser driving school in Gaza City, told Al-Monitor that many driving schools deceive students by prompting them to use an outlawed contracting system under which the school sets a fee the student has to pay to obtain a license.
If a student fails the practical driving test, Mushtahi said, the school will pay the fee for the student to take the test again, 80 shekels ($21). But if the student fails the test three times, the student has to pay the exam fee of 450 shekels. Some schools tell students that if they pay a large sum of money up front, the students will pass the test on their first try — which is impossible to know ahead of time, at least using legal means.
Raed Saati, head of the Driving Schools Owners’ Association in Gaza, agreed with Mushtahi. He told Al-Monitor that driving students are deceived in many ways when the student and the school do not commit to the course price stipulated by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, which is 30 shekels per training session, or to the session duration, which is 20 minutes.
