Disabled dream of higher education
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-07-29 08:41

The excitement of scoring high in the national entrance examination for universities and colleges didn't last long for Pan Yantao, a disabled student who has lost one leg and a resident from Lufeng, a county of South China's Guangdong Province.

Pan scored 654 last month, 14 points higher than the minimum enrollment requirement of top universities, and 80 points higher than that of regular universities.

Ever since July 5 when enrollment for top universities began, Pan has been anxiously waiting for his notice of invitation.

Elite universities' enrollment, or the so-called first batch enrollment, closed on July 13. The second-batch enrollment for regular universities concluded yesterday. Yet Pan still hasn't received his notice.

"The university has their considerations of who they enrol. However, the result has been unexpected," said Pan, not trying to conceal his disappointment.

"Compared with other physically-healthy students, I have gone through more difficulties before taking the entrance examination," he added.

Pan is not alone. Applications from 20 other disabled students in the province who passed the entrance examination have also been turned down by universities.

Liu Xinmin, an official of the education and employment department with the Guangdong Disabled Persons' Federation, confirmed that altogether 24 disabled students have passed the exam.

However, only four of those students have been enrolled by universities so far, Liu said.

Health conditions are used by some universities to turn down applications from disabled students.

However, Liu said the universities have no reason to do so.

According to the Guangdong Provincial Education Bureau, students have to take physical examinations before they take part in the national college entrance examination.

In addition, they have to take another physical check-up again after they are registered.

"Disabled students are exempted from the physical examination, but they are required to make a statement of their health conditions before they take the college entrance examination," said Liu.

"Only when the disabled students are diagnosed with other conditions that are considered inappropriate to begin their studies can they be dismissed," said Liu.

Last year, 97 per cent of the disabled students who passed the college entrance examination were successfully enrolled, according to Liu.

"This is partly because some universities did not conduct recruitment under the enrollment guidelines this year," said Liu.

According to Liu, some universities did not enroll the disabled students because they believe these students will encounter more difficulties in landing jobs after graduation.

"They claim that the enrollment of disabled students will affect their school's employment rate in a negative way," said Liu.

Under the present enrollment system, a disabled persons' federation can appeal twice for a disabled student in order to help the student to be enrolled.

However, the final decision is still up to the university, according to Liu.

"When we contacted the universities, we found lots of difficulties," said Liu.

Hence, Guangdong Disabled Persons' Federation submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Education and the China Disabled Persons' Federation early in April, demanding the right of final approval on the enrollment of disabled students. But so far no feedback has been received.

An official from the enrollment department under the Guangdong Education Bureau, who declined to be named, said there are two reasons why universities do not enrol disabled students.

One reason is some universities do not give enough priority to the disabled students' enrollment.

"The other is that the disabled students did not choose a suitable major or university before they took the entrance examination," said the official.

According to entrance examination and enrollment procedures, students have several choices of universities and majors before they take the examination.

In addition, the official said that the educational bureau has established new enrollment procedures starting this year.

"All the candidates who have passed the examination will undergo three procedures before they are finally picked up by a university," said the official.

The enrollment office under the provincial educational department has established close co-operation with universities, giving strict supervision to the enrollment system in a bid to enable all candidates meeting the requirement to be enrolled.

The official stressed that the new system will also ensure the enrollment of disabled students.

Huang Han, an official from a Guangzhou-based university, said that whether the disabled students are enrolled depends on their choices of university and major.

"So far, we have never shut the door to the disabled students if they meet the enrollment requirements," said Huang.

"But if they have selected a unsuitable major or university, their applications might be turned down," he said.

For example, a student with one blind eye applied to study medicine. Even though he had a high score of 708, he was still dismissed by the university.

"His blindness would not allow him to complete his study in the university or deal with medical work after graduation," said Huang.

Another official surnamed Deng from another university said that the university has enrolled two disabled students this year.

Guangdong Disabled Persons' Federation has attached great importance to disabled students' education.

To date, it has established 61 special schools and facilities for disabled students in the province.

In addition, more than 600,000 disabled students have obtained compulsory education in the province, statistics from the federation indicate.

However, there is no special college for disabled students to receive higher education in the province.

Other cities, such as Beijing, Tianjin and Changchun of Northeast China's Jilin Province have already established special colleges for disabled students to obtain higher education.

Hence, the local government has been urged by education officials and the disabled persons' federation to set up the special colleges for disabled students.

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