Eleven women have successfully completed their training at the BRAC Driving School and are now ready to begin their careers as professional drivers. They have received their certificates from BRAC and driving licences from the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).
A graduation ceremony, presided over by BRAC Road Safety Programme Director Ahmed Najmul Hussain, was held on Tuesday at the BRTA headquarters where Mohammed Yasin, BRTA chairman was present as the chief guest.
The organisers shared that the eleven women had undergone an intensive three-month residential training course at BRAC Driving School. Equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, the school provided both theoretical and practical driving lessons along with training in English language proficiency and awareness sessions on gender and safeguarding.
Mohammed Yasin thanked BRAC for its initiative and congratulated the newly trained female drivers, emphasising their potential to contribute to national economic growth as skilled human resources, while also helping to reduce gender-based violence and harassment on the roads.
Ishrat Jahan Soniya, a trained female driver, said, “Apart from driving skills, we have learned manners, etiquette, and so many things — making us fully prepared. Now, we are eager to get your support in finding suitable employment opportunities.”
In agreement, the BRTA also promised to publish the profiles and contact details of these drivers on its official website to further support their employment.
Additionally, the BRTA chairman pledged to take tangible steps to create a more inclusive environment for women in the transport sector by ensuring the installation of women-friendly facilities at major bus terminals and highways.
Meanwhile, Najmul Hussain highlighted that a person typically requires only twelve hours of practical driving experience to qualify as a driver, the participants had completed nearly a hundred hours of training and had already driven over 1,200 kilometres on the road. They had also joined BRAC’s Transport Department and undertook an additional three-month apprenticeship under supervision.
BRAC Road Safety Programme has been operational since 2001, with the aim of increasing the safety of all road users. The programme is also engaged in preventing gender-based violence and sexual harassment in public transport.
To date, it has provided safe road use training to 1.362 million general road users, 5,25,000 students, and 5,600 teachers nationwide.