KEY POINTS:
- JAMB has slashed UTME fees for candidates living with disabilities.
- This move is aimed at promoting inclusivity in Nigeria’s education system.
- JAMB’s initiative will reduce financial barriers for people living with disabilities.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said that it has slashed the fees for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for persons with disability. This decision is in line with the policy of JAMB to increase access to higher education in Nigeria.
According to a statement from JAMB, this fee reduction is part of its continuous measures to ensure that all the candidates are given equal chances, especially those with other forms of disability, physical or mental.
The board feels that financial issues should not be a hindrance to attaining the educational objectives, especially for disabled persons.
Promoting inclusivity in education
This has been regarded as a giant step towards the realization of the federal government’s policy on the diversification of Nigeria’s education system. For instance, people with disability have suffered a lot of challenges in the past, which include financial problems that have denied them quality education.
Some of these barriers include; JAMB’s effort to reduce the cost of the UTME for this group will go a long way to remove some of these barriers to enable more students with disabilities to access higher education opportunities.
The initiative will also assist in raising awareness of the need to foster an educational setting in which all learners can succeed irrespective of their learning capabilities.
As reported by BusinessDay, the decision was welcomed by different advocacy groups and other stakeholders in the education sector. Most people consider this a good move that will help eliminate the financial hurdles that have seen many students with disabilities drop out of school.
Effect on students and future policies
This decision made by JAMB to reduce the UTME fees for disabled persons can go a long way to change the lives of students in the country.
In this way, the board is assisting in reducing the financial hitches and making it possible for all the students to be able to compete for the available places in Nigeria’s universities, polytechnics and colleges.
This could also open the door for other policies in the Nigerian education sector that will embrace the inclusion of disabled persons.
This means that other institutions of learning and other government agencies should emulate the same and allow students with disabilities to pursue their education without any financial strain so that all the learners can be allowed to learn inclusively.
The general expectation is that this effort will not only help to enhance the enrolment of students with disabilities in tertiary institutions but will also promote the culture of inclusion in the Nigerian education system as a whole.
