The Bethesda Home for the Blind, Mushin,  Lagos,  has pleaded with tertiary institutions to encourage people with disabilities by increasing their admission quota annually.
The Proprietress of the home, Mrs Chioma Ohakwe, made the appeal in an interview with The Tide Monday in Lagos.
According to Ohakwe, such special consideration would further showcase the country’s effort in its drive for inclusiveness for persons with disability at all levels of education.
She said there was a need for a constant upward review of the number of placements for challenged candidates every new academic year, especially the universities.
“First, I commend the leadership of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on its efforts at ensuring that this category of persons is taken care of before, during and after its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
“I also commend the management of the University of Lagos for consistently assisting physically challenged persons, especially  blind candidates, in the areas of placement  and welfare.
“Before now, they used to give us just about six placements for our candidates that meet their admission criteria,’’ she told our correspondent.
She, however, commended University of Lagos  for admitting nine out of  the institution’s  23 candidates that sat for the examination and met the criteria.
“The remaining 14 were admitted in other tertiary schools across the country.
“I am expecting that this year’s placement would be better in terms of the number  for as many of these candidates that meet criteria,’’ she added.