New drivers face roadblock as MPI navigates instructor shortage

Manitoba Public Insurance knew demand would be high for the second edition of its condensed driver’s-ed summer program, but a lack of qualified instructors has left many disappointed families by the side of the road.

The public insurer offered the shortened summer program at MPI Service Centres last year for the first time.

It proved extremely popular for teens nearing driving age and their parents, who could avoid another activity added to their jammed school-year calendars.

Unlike the regular 12-week Driver Z (pronounced “driver’s-ed”) course offered in high schools at points during the academic year, the summer program allows students who are at least 15 1/2-years-old to complete the 35-hour classroom and eight-hour in-car requirements in five weeks by attending daily classes.

To address the demand, MPI increased class capacity to 588 spots across the province, 384 of which will be at MPI service centres in Winnipeg. There were only 312 spots available provincewide last year.

MPI added 29 additional driving instructors to teach the classes.

But the additional capacity fell short of satisfying the demand. All classes were filled an hour after registration opened at 8 a.m. on May 28.

Approximately 175 people were lined up at MPI’s Bison Drive service centre when the doors opened, but only 30 were able to secure a spot in the program.

“The capacity to offer a seat to every young person who’s interested in taking the program is just not there right now, and the main reason for that is the amount of driving instructors we have,” MPI spokesperson Tara Seel said.

The shortage is not a new issue, she said.

The Crown corporation has made an effort to recruit more instructors by increasing wages, campaigning at job fairs and contacting private driving schools directly, she said.

“If MPI sent out letters or emails to all of the driving schools and said, ‘this is how much we are paying,’ I’m sure there’ll be lots of instructors who would be interested.”–Lek Kinnarath

MPI’s hourly wages rose from $42.50 to $56.88 in January for in-car teaching in Winnipeg and other urban areas; instructors in rural communities got an in-car pay bump from $50 to $61.43. Hourly rates for classroom sessions went up, as well.

“We need people in those communities to put up their hand and say that they will be driving instructors so that we can get more more kids in seats,” Seel said, noting MPI would offer more courses to meet demand if it had the instructors.

Instructors require a clean driving record, valid driving permit and must be able to demonstrate they can work with youths.

Dil Subedi, owner of Windsor DC Driving School, has been an instructor since 2017. He taught MPI’s driver-education program for three years but quit last year because the pay fell well short — nearly $20 — of his hourly rate for private lessons.

“I clearly told them that I’m quitting for that reason, because I’m not getting enough pay from them. So after that, they haven’t contacted me back,” he said, while waiting for a student earlier this week.

Subedi said if he had known MPI was raising its pay rates, he likely would still be teaching. He’s considering a return, noting that he wasn’t notified about the increase after it was implemented in January.

Subedi said he was able to offer private lessons when he wasn’t teaching Driver Z classes at Glenlawn Collegiate, Churchill High School and Vincent Massey Collegiate.

Lek Kinnarath has been a driving instructor for 37 years. The owner of Maple Leaf Driving School also teaches the MPI program at Maples Collegiate.

Kinnarath also considered focusing only on private in-car lessons, but changed his mind when he learned of the upcoming pay raise last fall. Remaining in the program affords him the opportunity to work most of the time in one location, rather than spending time and paying for fuel driving back and forth across the city to pick up private students.

He said many private instructors aren’t aware of MPI’s wage boost, and he guessed that more of them would consider teaching if they did. Only instructors who were teaching for MPI in October were informed, he said.

“If MPI sent out letters or emails to all of the driving schools and said, ‘this is how much we are paying,’ I’m sure there’ll be lots of instructors who would be interested,” Kinnarath said.

Red River College Polytech offers a driver instructor training program that accepts 60 students annually and fills up within a few days of registration opening, said spokesperson Lauren Parsons.

matthew.frank@freepress.mb.ca