Visually impaired students want more career choices

Despite education reform, which has given more people the opportunity to take the gaokao, the college admission exam, more must be done to ensure educational equality, experts said.

Last year, the Ministry of Education stipulated that visually impaired people must be given access to Braille or electronic exam papers, as well as support staff, so that they can take the gaokao.

Although eight provinces reported that visually impaired candidates took the gaokao this year, none released exact numbers. Last year, only three visually impaired people took the exam.

Zheng Rongquan, 20, is visually impaired, but that does not stop him for longing for a profession other than the two deemed "appropriate" for him - music and massage.

Zheng is not interested in being a blind massage therapist. "It's a good-paying job, but not everyone wants to do it. I have my own dreams. This is why I took the gaokao."

Last week, the gaokao results were released. Zheng achieved a score of 570, which is well above average in Zhejiang province.

When he took the gaokao in early June, he was supplied with an exam paper with large type and a magnifier.

"I want to be a special-needs teacher or a psychologist in the future. I know what they need and how to help," he said.

Unfortunately, despite his high score, and scoring nearly 100 percent on the math section, he is unlikely to be accepted into the course of his choice, as music and massage are still seen as the only appropriate majors for visually impaired students.

Zhang Lei, vice-principal at Qingdao School for the Blind, where Zheng was a student, said: "Three students in our school took this year's gaokao. All obtained high scores."

However, he added, those students will likely face limited higher education choices.

Xinhua spoke to several universities in the province, including Zhejiang University of Technology and Zhejiang Agriculture & Forestry University. None had plans to accept visually impaired students.

One admissions officer said colleges lacked special textbooks and trained lecturers to support visually impaired students. Colleges are concerned about the students' ability to care for themselves and whether they can compete academically.

"If only a handful of universities and majors are available to them, the effort these gifted students put into their studies will be in vain," said Zhang, the vice-principal.

In China, it is widely believed that visually impaired students are not able to study in mainstream institutions. But China has improved access to education for people with disabilities. Public libraries nationwide have 800,000 copies of books in Braille, as well as friendly to the disabled furniture.

Visually impaired citizens are guaranteed the same rights to education as other students by law. More than 90,000 disabled students have gone on to higher education over the past three decades.