No fewer than 61 candidates, including those with blindness, autism and Down syndrome, among other challenges, yesterday, sat for the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) organised by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in Enugu centre under the JAMB Equal Opportunity Group (JEOG).
The candidates are part of 577 others writing the examination nationwide.
The special candidates who were drawn from the nine states of the South East and South- South regions, including Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states, participated in the examination held at the University of Nigeria, Enugu campus.
Coordinator of the UTME Blind, Enugu Centre, Prof. Mosto Onuoha, explained that JAMB had introduced the blind UTME programme to give people with special needs equal opportunity to achieve their dreams of going to the university or other higher institutions of learning.
In a related development, the Ekiti State government has pledged to collaborate with JAMB to ensure the international standard of giving people with disabilities access to basic needs of life, including the right to higher education.
The state government hailed JAMB for its policy of giving access to physically challenged students for UTME.
The Special Adviser to the Ekiti State Governor on Special Education and Social Inclusion, Adetoun Agboola, explained that the creation of JEOG has, in no small way, afforded disadvantaged candidates to gain entrance to higher institutions to pursue their careers.
