Funding
By Chinyere Nwachukwu
Lagos Aug.9, 2018 (NAN) The Bethesda Home for the Blind, Mushin,Lagos, has expressed worry that lack of funds may hinder admission of its students into tertiary institutions.
The Proprietress of the home, Mrs Chioma Ohakwe, expressed the worry in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
According to her, 25 visually challenged students of the home, who wrote the 2018 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) scored 200 and above.
“Right now, we are faced with issues of funding in ensuring a smooth admission process for these students.
“We plead with governments, well-meaning Nigerians and corporate bodies to come to our aid.
“As you know, in registration, there are usually no exemptions; whatever their sighted counterparts pay is what they pay in spite of their challenges.
“Infact, these visually challenged students are even expected to go through the placement process with extra materials such as typewriters, recorders and more.
“We are appealing for interventions so that these students will not lose this opportunity,” the proprietor said.
Ohakwe said that securing admission into tertiary insitutions of learning would give the students a sense of belonging.
On preparations for the 2019 UTME, Ohakwe said that most of the students were clamouring for the use of Braille note Apex machines for the examination.
According to her, the students do not like dictation mode for the examination.
“We have commenced preparations for next year’s examination which is part of the strategies we use in achieving impressive performance.
“However, the students are not comfortable with the dictation mode used in writing their examination.
“They complain that in the process of dictating questions to them, they miss out on a lot of things and do not understand the questions.
“We want to use this medium to appeal to the authorities concerned to look into the issue and have a reconsideration by bringing back the apex note machines so that they (students) can take the examination seamlessly,” she said. (NAN)
CCN/IGO
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Edited by Ijeoma Popoola