LAUTECH commits to inclusive admission, disability support

The Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, has pledged to strengthen access to its admission process for visually impaired applicants while expanding institutional support for students and other members of the university community living with disabilities.

The commitment followed a demand by the Nigeria Association of the Blind, South-West Zone, for closer collaboration with the university on inclusive education, admission opportunities, assistive technology and digital innovation.

The university’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Management and Operations, Prof Tunde Ogunkunle, gave the assurance when he received members of the association on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Razaq Kalilu, during a recent courtesy visit in Ogbomoso.

The delegation included representatives of the Nigeria Association of the Blind from Oyo, Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti states, as well as other members of the organisation.

Ogunkunle said LAUTECH recognised that access to university education could not be considered genuinely equitable if persons with disabilities continued to encounter institutional and physical barriers.

“We in LAUTECH are quite aware of all that you have been saying. Inclusiveness is one of those things that make a university edge others out, including taking care of those with physical and other forms of disability,” he said.

He said the university’s commitment would include efforts to ensure that persons with visual impairment were not disadvantaged during admission.

“We will strongly support your advocacy. In whatever we do, we will continue to ensure that there is inclusiveness. Effort will be made to ensure the inclusion of people with visual impairment in our admission exercise,” Ogunkunle said.

The commitment also extends to the physical environment within the institution.

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Ogunkunle disclosed that the vice-chancellor had directed that ramps be incorporated into ongoing improvements to toilet facilities across the university to make them accessible to wheelchair users.

The intervention, he suggested, formed part of a broader recognition that inclusion had to be reflected in the practical conditions under which students and other members of the university community studied and worked.

He said LAUTECH was prepared to support the advocacy and acknowledged that inclusion had to cover people with different forms of disability rather than focus exclusively on academic performance.

“One of those things we do to edge out other universities is our inclusiveness in whatever we do,” he said.

He described the university’s leadership as conscious of the need to provide an environment in which persons with physical and other forms of disability could participate more fully.

Earlier, the delegation had urged LAUTECH to go beyond general assurances and establish a stronger institutional relationship with the organisation to improve educational opportunities for persons with visual impairment in the South-West and beyond.

The Zonal Coordinator of the association, Samuel Bello, a lecturer at the Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo, and the Zonal Secretary, Kemi Odusanya, a journalist, said the university was strategically placed to contribute to the development of inclusive education and technology.

They sought collaboration with LAUTECH in areas of inclusive education, assistive technology, digital innovation and admission opportunities.

The association also sought greater attention to the academic development of young people with visual impairment who were already enrolled in higher institutions.