UTME: We ‘ve special arrangements for people living with disabilities- JAMB

Mrs Olajumoke Adeleke, Ibadan Zonal Director of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), says provision has been made for candidates living with disabilities in writing the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Adeleke made this known in an interview with our correspondent on Friday in Ibadan, saying that various arrangements have been made for different categories of disabilities.

He said: “I believe that there is provision for them in the Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo Town.

“The number of hours for sitting for UTME is two hours, but for the physically challenged we always give them time to write their examination. There is extra time for them.”

Adeleke said that technical glitches had been resolved almost immediately and no candidate would be left unattended to.

Our correspondent, however, reports that during UTME registration special centres were created for people living with disabilities in Oyo, Ekiti and Lagos for the South-West zone.

Meanwhile, there had been mixed reactions on the conduct of the 2023 UTME exercise, as parents called for improvements.

A parent, Mr Olusojo Afolabi, said that different people had different experiences concerning the UTME.

Afolabi said some candidates had issues that did not emanate from them in writing the examination.

He said there should be improvement each year on the conduct of the examination.

Recounting his experience and that of his son, Afolabi said the exercise scheduled for noon didn’t start until 4.00 pm.

“The delay caused untold hardship for the candidates and their parents who accompanied them to the examination centre.

“One way or the other it would affect the performance of the candidates, because the delay was least expected.

“One would have thought that adequate preparation had been made to checkmate the glitches,” he said.

Another parent, Mrs Esther Olayinka, said that she had a wonderful experience with the conduct of the UTME exercise.

“My daughter’s centre ran smoothly as there were no complaints. She was scheduled for a 9.00 a.m examination and they were already settling in as of 8.55 a.m and the exercise kick-off and ended as slated.

“The only concern I had was the distance from where she wrote the examination to her residence, it was quite far. Aside from the distance, every other thing went well,” Olayinka said.