About 80 per cent out of 117,000 students who ride motorcycles to school nationwide did not possess valid license, said Road Transport Department (RTD) deputy director-general (Planning and Operations), Datuk Yusoff Ayob.

He said a study, conducted by RTD jointly with the Education Ministry, revealed that only 20 per cent or 23,400 students have valid B2 motorcycle license, while the remaining 80 per cent did not have a license.

"The tendency for students to ride a motorcycle without a license was because parents are unable to send their children to school as well as the lack of bus services being provided in the vicinity of the school," he said.

He was speaking at a press conference after officiating at the closing of 'One Community, One RTD' programme for Gelang Patah, here on Saturday.

Yusoff said the situation was worrying because the students were exposed to dangers, including road accidents due to lack of knowledge on road traffic safety regulations.

Hence the department would intensify its MyLesen programme in schools to encourage more students to get valid motorcycle license in order to tackle the problem.