Free lesson to help taxi drivers handle difficult situations

MCA Lifelong Learning and UTAR_CEE are offering a fully-subsidised short English course to 200 taxi drivers in Klang Valley.

The three-hour short course which is scheduled to begin on May 17 aims to equip taxi drivers with necessary English vocabulary and speaking skills as well as to help them understand the role play in Malaysia’s tourism industry.

“We also want to provide taxi drivers with a mental framework of the industry and to prepare them with skills and techniques for handling passengers in difficult situations,” said MCA Lifelong Learning director Quek Ngee Meng at a press conference recently.

Quek urged taxi drivers who did not have a good command of the language to come forward and take part in the course which would be conducted in Mandarin, Cantonese and English.

“If the response is good and the 200 participants quota is met, we will organise similar workshops nationwide,” said Quek.

Persatuan Pemilik Dan Pemandu Teksi Selangor dan Wilayah Persekutuan secretary-general Rickman Hiew said it was a good initiative by MCA and encouraged his fellow colleagues to take part.

“Learning English is very important because right now, many of us (taxi drivers) are reluctant to ferry foreign tourists for fear of making errors,” said Hiew.

The course for taxi drivers is part of the Break Through Learning Series co-conducted by MCA Lifelong Learning and UTAR-CEE.

The closing date for applicants is April 30.

Quek also said MCA Lifelong Learning would be organizing similar courses for those who earn less than RM3,000 a month and it would be opened to all races.

Source: The Star, by Kng Zheng Guan and Rachel Lau