AVAILIBILITY AND AWARENESS OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY RELATED RESOURCES BY STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN UNIVERSITIES, NORT-CENTRAL, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study assessed the availability and awareness of information and communication technology (ICT) related resources by students with special needs for sustainable development in universities in North-central, Nigeria. Survey research design was used. The population comprised 162 special needs students of 13 public universities located in North-central geopolitical zone, Nigeria. The total population was used as it was not too much to manage. Checklist of available ICT-related information resources and structured questionnaire were used as instrument for data collection. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics of frequencies, percentages and mean. The study revealed that the students with special needs’ basic resources like wheelchairs, access ramps, braille and talking calculators were available whereas some essential resources like automatic-opening doors, lift with several disabled friendly features, teletouch and synthetic text-to-speech software were not available. The level of awareness on the available ICT resources was low with grand mean of 2.33. The study concluded that there was significant deficiencies in the provision of adequate ICT resources and the pervasive lack of awareness on available information resources in format that are accessible and useable for students with special needs thereby ultimately fostering a truly inclusive learning environment that ensures sustainable development in universities. The authors recommended that Universities should devise and execute action plan aimed at the provision of information resources and should design and implement inclusive awareness campaigns tailored to the diverse needs of students with special needs for sustainable development in universities.