The about 110 visually-impaired candidates, who sat the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), in Lagos on Monday has commended the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for what they described as an improved conduct of the examination.
The candidates, who sat the examination at the Distance Learning Institute of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, were part of about 340 candidates, who are billed to take part in the examination in five centres across the country’s six geo-political zones.
Some of them, who spoke to us in Lagos, also hailed JAMB for the provision of welfare packages including hotel accommodation and feeding for three days.
The examination, which was conducted by the Equal Opportunity Group created by JAMB and headed by the former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Peter Okebukola, also had in attendance in Lagos, Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Nini Briggs.
According to Okebukola, the dictation method was adopted for the candidates to carry all the candidates along, pending the time adequate provision of Braille machines are made and candidates are well trained to handle them.
He said: “What the Equal Opportunity Group is saddled to do is to conduct UTME for visually-impaired candidates and those in prisons. Those in prisons concluded theirs on Saturday but the blind candidates are scheduled to sit their exams between Monday and Tuesday.
“This examination is holding simultaneously across five centres in each zone, and the candidates are catered for with the provision of accommodation and feeding.”
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the Bethesda Home for the Blind, Lagos, Mrs. Chioma Ohakpe, also commended the examination body for the improvement but also called on JAMB to fast track efforts towards providing the CBT facilities for the candidates like their sighted counterparts.
One of the candidates, Adebisi Oluwashina of the Government Special School for the Blind, Ikere-Ekiti, said he was sure of good results, saying the dictation option was far better than expectation.
