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 )