The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said that candidates with disabilities are not given special cut-off marks for admission into tertiary institutions.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting on inclusive higher education in Abuja, the Chairman of the JAMB Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG), Emeritus Professor Peter Okebukola, said candidates with disabilities take the same Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) as other candidates.
According to him, they answer the same questions and are assessed using the same admission standards as every other applicant.
“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 revealed that JEOG has supported 4,216 candidates with disabilities over the past 10 years. He added that about 53 per cent of them gain admission each year into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
The event marked the 10th anniversary of JEOG, a group created by JAMB Registrar, Professor Is-haq Oloyede, to promote equal access to higher education for persons with disabilities.
Okebukola also said Artificial Intelligence (AI) will help make higher education more inclusive by improving learning opportunities for persons with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups.
He further unveiled a guide designed to help parents, lecturers and tertiary institutions support underage students admitted into universities.
He disclosed that the first group of underage students admitted under the initiative consists of 96 students below the age of 16.
A commemorative book titled A Peep into the Future of Higher Education in Nigeria was also presented at the event. The book examines the future of tertiary education in the country.
