Mayra Ramirez is blind. She knows she's never going to drive. She can think of a lot of things she'd rather be studying than rules of the road, but she didn't have a choice. Blind students in Chicago, U.S.A. wonder why city schools make them take driving course.

Chicago public schools requires all sophomores (pre-college) to take the class and pass a written road-rules exam--a graduation requirement that affects about 30 blind and visually impaired students in specialised programmes.

State law requires that all districts offer driver's education, but does not mandate it as a graduation requirement. A spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education, U.S.A. said, "It defies logic to require blind students to take this course and waste their academic time."

Chicago's public schools have no such exemption. That is something the Curie and Payton students are pushing to change, through an advocacy program at the Blind Service Association.

Meanwhile authorities said that they would be willing to consider a change in the policy and give students the opportunity to earn credits in another course.

By law, any parent can ask for a change in a disabled student's individualised education plan, which could exempt a student from driver's education as a graduation requirement. But this is never outlined and blind students are made to sit through the course.