A new regulation released by the Wuhan government in central China's Hubei province stipulates that taxi drivers must at least have a high school diploma.
Transportation officers said the move intends to lift the access threshold of the profession and therefore improve services.
The new rule does not apply to any taxi drivers that are currently employed.
A survey by cnhubei.com shows 73% netizens consider the rule unreasonable.
---------------------------
(JA) Zhu Feng, a lawyer comments on cnhubei.com,
"The new rule does not contain any job discrimination because it does not specify anything on age or gender. But still it has no practical meaning. To drive a taxi, you need good driving skills and a good serving attitude and all these can be obtained by training from the company.
(Liu Kun) "Bohan" comments on weibo.com,
"Many entrepreneurs are actually only graduates from primary school. Higher education degrees do not guarantee anything. I think the most important things we should seek from a taxi driver are driving safety and good service. So I believe what should really be examined are his previous driving records and his people skills."
(Luo Yu) Li Ya comments on cnhubei.com,
"Our education has developed in such a big step that it is turning out hundreds of thousands of high school and even college graduates. Also fierce competition in the taxi industry is asking regulators to put education diplomas into the requirements of taxi drivers."
--------------------------
(JA) "Muzigan" comments on weibo.com,
"In the future I will just tell my children: 'study harder because at least with a high school degree, you can get a job as a taxi driver'"
(Liu Kun) "Xiaoxiaoxinba" comments on weibo.com,
"The job has nothing to do with an education diploma. As long as you have good driving skills, then you are a perfect candidate. It's not about writing a dissertation or anything."
(Luo Yu) "Longshejielu" comments on xinhuanet.com,
"The importance of education diploma has always been over emphasized in China. It's a social disease that's prevalent in high education institutions, in the government, in companies…everywhere. Perhaps very few people would admit that they themselves favor those with good degrees, but in fact no one is completely deprived of its influence. So Wuhan's requirements on taxi drivers reflect deeper social problems than what we could see on its surface."