Centre for Supportive Services for the Deaf

Historical Background

The Federal Government expressed her willingness, in the National Policy of Education (NPE, 1981), to provide equal educational opportunities for all the citizens of Nigeria.  To this end, on June 14th 1990, two representatives of the Federal Ministry of Education, Special Education Division, Lagos, visited the University of Ilorin, Faculty of Education, to formerly convey the approval for the establishment of a pilot project of tertiary education for the Deaf. Thereafter, a unit, Centre for Supportive Services for the Deaf (CSSD), was created in the Faculty of Education to take charge of the project. The Centre for Supportive Services for the Deaf, University of Ilorin, is a service – provider for hearing-impaired students during lectures and other university activities as well as assist them to settle down properly for their studies.  The Centre has been performing these roles creditably and over 30 such students have graduated in various programmes including Medicine, Civil Engineering, Economics, Common law, Educational Management, Educational Technology, Computer Science, Islamic Education, Religious Studies, English Language, Sociology, Geography, Counsellor Education etc.

Our Mandate

The Centre is specifically charged with the responsibilities to:

a.      locate and provide resources (both human and materials) as well as support    services necessary to facilitate the learning of deaf students pursuing various degree programmes at the University of Ilorin;

b.      coordinate activities of the personnel employed at the Centre with the sole purpose of promoting active learning by the deaf students of the University of Ilorin; and

c.      arrange for the provision of social welfare services (including counselling services) for the deaf students through liaison with appropriate units of the University and relevant outside agencies.

Our Stewardship

The University of Ilorin pilot project is meant to assist deaf students pursue any degree programme available at the University. This is to say that any Nigerian hearing- impaired person who is qualified can apply to study for any degree course at the University of Ilorin. To actualize this mandate, the Centre, currently:

1.      has six Tutor-Signers/Interpreters who are assigned to accompany deaf students to lecture rooms;

2.      assists  the students to register for courses  of their choices through adequate consultation with individuals and departments concerned;

3.      assists the deaf students to secure hostel accommodation through making special request to the appropriate unit of the University;

4.      provides counselling assistance to remedy personal, social and academic problems;

5.      assists deaf students to secure financial aids through provision of information  on financial assistance to handicapped students available  in the University and outside of the University, as well as assists  deaf students to obtain and complete financial aid (scholarship forms and to  attend interviews);

6.      provides  a  room in the Centre for deaf students to interact;

7.      arranges regular meetings with all the lecturers of deaf students and their heads of department  to find solutions to various academic ; personal  and social problems of the deaf students; and

8.      creates awareness campaign among the hearing students of the University about the presence of deaf students in the University.

Programmes

Although, the Centre is not running academic programmes in the University, it is the only one of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa.  The Centre is a service – provider meant to assist deaf students pursue various degree programmes (e.g. B.A, B.Sc., B.A.(Ed), B.Sc.(Ed.), M. Sc., M.Ed. and Ph.D.) at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria.  We have deaf students in various departments of the University such as Law, Counsellor Education, Educational Technology,  Human Kinetics and Health Education, Sociology, Banking and Finance, English , Performing Arts etc. Three of the students completed their various programmes in the 2008/2009 session.

Table 2: List of Registered Deaf Students by Level, Department and Faculty