577 sight-impaired candidates to sit for 2024 UTME nationwide

No fewer than 577 sight-impaired candidates are set to take the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) UTME in eleven centres nationwide.

The Chairman of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG), Emeritus Prof. Peter Okebukola, made this known at a news conference in Abuja on Thursday.

The Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, set up the JAMB Equal Opportunity Group in 2017 for the effective handling of sight-impaired candidates and others with special needs.

Okebukola said for the first time, JAMB, through JEOG, would implement the bimodal system of UTME administration.

“This involves Fully-Braille and Fully Read-Aloud. Candidates have a choice of mode. JEOG has been resourced by JAMB to make the experience of the two modes of test administration pleasant for the candidates.

“With a total of 577 sight-impaired candidates, the 2024 UTME presents the highest number. We had 348 in 2022, and 313 in 2023.

“The 2024 increase is largely due to increased advocacy by JEOG, a process which will be bolstered in the coming years,” he said.

Speaking further, Okebukola noted that all sight-impaired candidates who are prima facie qualified for admission to institutions of higher learning in Nigeria would have the cost of their UTME registration refunded on-site during the examination.

He said the other five “goodies” to be enjoyed by the candidates were free hotel accommodation for the sight-impaired candidates and their guides, a free Braille slate and a stylus.

Others, he said, are customised t-shirts, free meals through the examination period and transport supplementation for the sight-impaired candidates and their guides.

“No other African country comes near offering such kind gestures,” he said. (NAN)