JAMB Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG) says plans are underway to introduce Computer-Based Tests (CBT) to people living with disabilities sitting for Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Prof. Sunday Ododo, Coordinator, Abuja Centre for Blind Candidates, made this known during a news briefing on Monday in Abuja.
Ododo, while commending the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for its support to the group, said the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) was getting better each year.
He said: “We have 577 candidates sitting for the examination nationwide and the process so far is getting better and better every year.
“We successfully migrated from read-aloud to fully braille mode.
“That is, the questions are read out to the candidates and they answer and another is for them to use the braille to answer the questions.
“Our goal is to upgrade to CBT mode, where the computer can read the questions out to them and they answer.
“We will first test run all the necessary processes to make sure that it can actually work then probably, by next year, we can introduce it to our UTME candidates.”
He urged institutions where these persons studied, to begin to encourage them by introducing and teaching such persons the use of computer, to enable them become conversant with the system.
Ododo, while lauding JAMB’s efforts towards ensuring a seamless exercise for the group, also said that all necessary provisions and standards were made available for the candidates.
He said that JAMB had recently announced that any candidate, who scored up to five credits in their O’level examination, would be given free UTME registration in 2024.
He added that so far, eight persons who have met the expectation and have already registered for the 2024 exercise, have been refunded their registration fees by the board, just yesterday.
The coordinator further explained that JAMB also gave free accommodations and feeding to all the candidates, who came from outside Abuja to sit for the examination, at the Abuja centre.
He said they also gave braille slates and stylos to each blind candidate, as gifts.
Ododo explained that all these were part of collaboration effort and commitments by both bodies, to ensure that persons living with disabilities were not left out or denied access to quality education.
One of the blind candidates, Olubunmi Christopher, said he came from Kogi state to sit for the exercise and had been very happy with the system put in place.
He said that although he had no challenges whatsoever, answering the examination questions, he however, had a challenge with climbing the stairs to his room, which he explained was a bit tedious.
He thanked the Federal Government for not sidelining the group but providing everything they needed for a smooth process in the exercise, while calling for improvements in other areas necessary.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that senior educationists, members of JEOG and representative of JAMB were present at the meeting. (NAN)
