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.