The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has made it clear: candidates with disabilities do not get special cut-off marks for admission into tertiary institutions.
Emeritus Professor Peter Okebukola, chairman of the JAMB Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG), told a stakeholders’ meeting on inclusive higher education in Abuja that these candidates sit the same Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) as everyone else. “We do not lower standards for these candidates. They sit for the same UTME, answer the same questions and are assessed by the same standards as every other candidate,” he said.
Okebukola said JEOG has supported 4,216 candidates with disabilities over the past 10 years, and about 53 per cent of them gain admission each year into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. The gathering also marked JEOG’s 10th anniversary — the group was set up by JAMB Registrar Professor Is-haq Oloyede to promote equal access to higher education for persons with disabilities.
He added that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will help make higher education more inclusive, improving learning for persons with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups. Okebukola also unveiled a guide to help parents, lecturers and tertiary institutions support underage students; the first intake under the scheme is 96 students below the age of 16.
A commemorative book, A Peep into the Future of Higher Education in Nigeria, was presented at the event.
