Approaching the annual college entrance examination period which
falls on July 7 and 8 this year, some blind students, for the first
time, have their chance for higher education.
Shanghai Teachers
University is ready to accept its first batch of blind
candidates from inland China, and the Shanghai Education and
Examination Bureau has set special entrance examinations for them.
Xiang Jiaxiang, vice president of Shanghai Teachers University said
that, thanks to advanced English-Braille software, English
information inputted into a computer by the blind could easily be
translated into Braille, and vice versa. This makes it possible for
the visually impaired to do some work like simultaneous
interpretation with the help of a computer and the fact that they
tend to have their special memory ability for studying foreign
languages as well as being tenacious.
There are four candidates who are the lucky ones from the Blind
School of Shanghai striving to prepare for their examination. They
all regard it as a rare and great opportunity. They get up at six
o'clock in the morning, and, after 7-8 class hours of school study;
they will choose to have an additional four or five hours of self
study.
Asked about the exam, 20-year-old Cai Jiawen, one of the four,
said, "I lost my sight in a fall when I was 11. I thought I would
never have any chance to go to college. But, now, I do. I am a very
lucky person."
Although the vice president believes the students are suitable for
art majors like foreign languages and history, they are more
interested in Law and applied psychology. But they will be
restricted by the visual elements of these subjects.
Considering the real difficulties, the university will cut some
courses and take special care of these students in term of policy.
Many students at the university said they would welcome these blind
students and would like to help them not only in their studies, but
also in life.
(china.org.cn by Li Liangdu, July 5, 2002 )