IT'S learning, but not as we know it!

Blind people across the globe are being given the chance to gain new skills and qualifications thanks to a Preston-based charity.

But the 'students' won't have to step into the classroom at Action for the Blind's Miller Arcade base.

For their classroom is entirely virtual - and spans the globe. They're learning via the internet!

And thanks to the latest technology, which is currently being hooked up into the homes of the partially-sighted people across the world, the charity will soon be teaching NVQs in Information Technology and Teleworking via the information superhighway.

Aldric Brooks, centre manager, said: "We already run training schemes but this will allow us to help more people because it saves them from actually having to come to us.

"They are given work to do and we have video conferences with them at regular intervals to make sure they are coping with the work.

"Assessors can also check their work over the internet. We can ask them questions and they type in the answers in 'real time' so we know everything is all right."

One of the first people to test the scheme is Claire Disney, who lives in Cambridge.

She was refused admission to scores of colleges because of her disability, which means she is housebound.

Her last hope was the Preston-based charity but without the internet she would have struggled to complete the IT NVQ.

Aldric hopes the new project will mean some blind people can get jobs in the workplace.

Other students who are about to log on for the first time include people from France and Greece.

He added: "By teaching skills such as Teleworking and IT, it should be easier for them to overcome their disability and actually get work, which is what they want."

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