The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has unveiled plans to reimburse registration fees paid by visually-impaired candidates of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), subject to specific conditions.
Prof. Olarenwaju Fagbohun, Lagos Coordinator for JAMB’s Equal Opportunity Group, disclosed this development at the University of Lagos’s Distance Learning Institute (DLI), designated as the 2024 UTME center for visually-impaired candidates from Lagos and Ogun states.
He noted that out of the 88 registered candidates for the 2024 UTME at this center, 82 attended. He clarified that the refund will only apply to those visually-impaired candidates who achieved five ‘O’ Level credits in one sitting.
The coordinator said that the gesture is to encourage physically-challenge candidates.
According to him,
“I will like to give kudos to the Registrar of JAMB, Prof Is’haq Oloyede. .This year, he went a step further to return money paid by visually-challenged candidates for the purchase of their registration documents- those who scored five credits at one sitting.
“They were not supposed to have paid for the forms, but in a situation whereby they have already done that, their money will be returned to them here, today.
“The process is that the board, from the results uploaded by these candidates during registration for the examination, had already disaggregated all these and sent to all the centre coordinators nationwide.
“We have the list and the money already made available by the board, and the directive is that we must ensure that the concerned candidates get back their money immediately.
“We want them to know that they are Nigerians and that Nigeria recognises their roles and will want to harness their potential,” he said.
Supporting physically challenged
He said that the board is committed to finding ways to ensure that no Nigerian child is excluded from empowerment opportunities. He also noted that special examination is being held in 12 centers across the nation.
Previously, candidates were only allowed to listen as proctors read the questions aloud to them. However, this year, it was recognized that some candidates also wished to use braille to independently read and respond to questions.
Consequently, in addition to the ‘read aloud’ option, a ‘fully braille’ option has been introduced.
This new option involves printing the questions in braille so that candidates can use braille answer sheets to respond.
In preparation for this year’s exams, the organizers began contacting candidates assigned to the Lagos center at the Distance Learning Institute (DLI) of UNILAG one to two months in advance.
Candidates were informed about their examination venue and advised to arrive at the center a day early with their guides to avoid any last-minute pressure.
“Before now, we allowed the candidates to just listen. The proctors will read aloud to them, but this year, we realised that some of them also want to use the braille and read on their own and then answer the questions.
“So, we, in addition to the option of ‘read aloud’ have also decided to introduce the option of ‘fully braille’.
“This means we will print questions on braille for the candidates and they will now use the braille answer sheets to answer the questions”.
He also said that the candidates were checked into hotels alongside their guides.
“They are being well taken care of, and whenever they will be returning to their respective destinations, they will be given transportation allowance,” he said.
Prof. Fagbohun, a specialist on Environmental Law, said that the candidates would be examined on various subjects, including Government, Arabic, Use of English, Mathematics, and Biology, among others.
