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This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Mark Griffiths in Beijing. Here is the news.

China is increasing its assistance for people with disabilities taking the national college entrance examination, or gaokao, which falls in June each year.

Examination departments across the country should offer reasonable accommodations to test takers who have disabilities on the basis of their specific needs.

The new regulations have been released by the Ministry of Education and the China Disabled Persons' Federation. It aims to ensure that people with disabilities can have convenient and equal access to the exams.

The regulations stipulate that starting this year, test takers with disabilities can enter examination halls ahead of time; and the halls will have specialized staff, including sign language interpreters, in place to offer assistance.

Last year marked the first time that blind and other visually impaired people were officially permitted to take the gaokao. The ministry released a notice last April, stipulating that examination departments should provide necessary assistance and tools to enable them to take the test.

This year, the policy was extended to cover people with other disabilities.

This is NEWS Plus Special English.