The University of Venda has once more displayed its commitment to making learning easier for students, particularly the disabled, when a user-friendly building meant for the disabled was officially opened.

Recently, more than 100 disabled students benefited in the form of motorised wheelchairs, laptops and learning aids. A fortnight ago, the chairperson of council, Ms Shirley Mabusela, accompanied by the principal of the university, Prof Peter Mbati, high-ranking university officials and other invited guests, officially opened a state-of-the-art R5,7million building for the use by students with disabilities.

The modern block, situated next to the university’s sports hall, is a joint initiative between the University of Venda and the national Department of Education. Students who witnessed the official opening could not hide their excitement when they touched some of the learning aids after these were handed to them.

Mr Gift Khumalo, chairperson of the disabled students at Univen, hailed the building as a step in the right direction. He said the opening of the block was a dream come true for the disabled community at Univen. He said with the growing number of people with disabilities on campus, their needs were also growing. “Life has been really tough for us here on campus. We have many needs and areas which need to be improved for our sake, but the opening of this block has eased the burden and some of our challenges are now all history,” he said.

Ms Mabusela told guests that the new building forms part of the university’s commitment to making learning easier for all students, with particular emphasis on the disabled who were previously overlooked. She said the university would like to see all students having access to better learning facilities. “We are an inclusive institution and what you are witnessing here today is an indication that we take the disabled students of this university seriously. We will continue doing our best in this regard,” she said.

A visibly happy principal of the university, Prof Peter Mbati, was beaming with pride when he was shown around the new infrastructure. “This is part of our vision to see this institution as an all inclusive university where all students have equal opportunities and we are looking forward to making this university a better place to study,” he said. He said the university was undergoing massive infrastructural development that would benefit the whole university community and the outside community.