Visually impaired students given chance to take gaokao at last

On June 7, blind students from all over the country will sit the competitive university-entrance exams, also known as gaokao, carefully answering the papers in electronic form or in Braille.

For the first time, the Ministry of Education stated in March that it would provide more "humane" services for students who are blind or partially sighted to sit the gaokao. The move is to "show concern and care for test-takers from disadvantaged social groups," the statement said.

Previously, requests by blind students to take part in the gaokao, an exam that many believe can change one's destiny, have been repeatedly denied because there was no provision to accommodate their disability.

"We really appreciate the opportunity," Li Xiaotao, mother of Zhang Yaodong, a senior high school student from Gansu Province who is busy preparing for the exam, told the Global Times.

Like many visually challenged students, Zhang's application to take the gaokao was rejected last year. The local authorities suggested he go to a special education school instead. After repeatedly making applications, they finally got the good news in March.

"Our son has been struggling with more than just his own disability for years. No matter what the result is, we are glad to have been given hope," Li said.

However, many blind students reached by the Global Times said while they are cautiously positive about the upcoming exam, they do not see any chance to pass it.

"There are only two months to go before the exam, and for those who are studying at special education schools, the chance to pass the exam is pretty small," said Yang Qingfeng, a 28-year-old trainee with the Beijing One Plus One Cultural Exchange Center, an NGO that specializes in protecting the benefits of the disabled.

"The ministry sent out a positive signal, but is just a signal, its staff probably have no idea how to implement it," he said

Constant rejections

It is estimated that there are over 12 million visually impaired people in China, some 5 million of whom are totally blind.

For many of them, gaining access to mainstream university is a challenge. Many of them are restricted to vocational training in special schools to study either music or massage.

"Going to university doesn't mean anything, at the end of the day, what is waiting for you is still massage," 28-year-old blind activist Cai Cong told the Global Times.

In 2008, China signed the United Nations convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which says the government should give disabled citizens the right to attend mainstream schools and ensure reasonable accommodation.

"Blind students' right to go to school has been protected by State policies, it is the implementation by the local authorities that bars them from entering colleges," said Li Qingzhong, head of the China Association of the Blind.

According to official statistics, about 35,000 disabled people attended mainstream colleges between 2008 and 2012. However, there are an estimated 85 million disabled people in the country, and the number of blind people attending colleges remains unknown.

"The reason behind the ineffective implementation lies in discrimination," Li continued.

Many give up and accept this will be their fate. They take a special exam and go to special schools like Cai did. Having lost his sight at the age of 10 due to disease, Cai studied at a mainstream high school in his hometown Hubei Province. His teachers and classmates had been very helpful with his study and he did not feel that he was too different until he was rejected from taking the gaokao.

"All I asked for was a paper in electronic form or someone to read it for me, but I was told there was no precedence and they didn't know how to organize it," Cai said. "So I had to face the limited choices I had."

Cai eventually took the special exam for the blind and entered a five-year massage program at the Special Education College of Changchun University.

If you ask 100 blind students, you probably get 100 different answers about what they want to study in college. But in reality, their choices are reduced to just a few.

"Students' interest in law and medication have been growing in recent years," Zhang Lei, head of the Qingdao School for the Blind, in Shandong province, told the Global Times. "The authorities should take their interests into consideration."