A total of 364 blind candidates are to sit the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in 11 centres across the nation.
The special examination conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board for visually-impaired candidates will hold between April 27 and 29, 2023 under the supervision of the JAMB Equal Opportunity Group.
The chairman, JAMB Equal Opportunity Group, Prof Peter Okebukola, who made this known while providing the highlight of 2023 examination on Thursday in Abuja, commended the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, for the special arrangement for this category of Nigerians, saying the goal of the Oloyede-led JAMB was to ensure that no eligible Nigerian is prevented from taking the UTME, regardless of disability.
He disclosed that from 2017, JEOG had processed about 2,600 visually-impaired candidates for the UTME with over a third admitted to courses of their choice in higher education institutions in Nigeria, mainly universities, adding that the initiative had been cited in the last four years in several countries, as a good model for Africa.
The former Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission explained that the mode of examination administration was blended use of Personal Computers and the traditional Braille slate and stylus/typewriters in writing answers to questions that are read out by a subject expert, stressing that the blind candidates take the same test items as those who are not blind.