Approximately, 40,000 children are blind – childhood cataract is the leading cause of childhood blindness in Bangladesh. Over 12,000 children are suffering from unnecessary blindness due to un-operated cataract.
Many children become blind for lack of awareness on eye problem. Parents are also not aware of eye diseases, so they cannot easily identify or ignore the vision impairment problem. Many children cannot see in the classroom whatever the teachers write on the blackboard for this reason some children fail in their class and cannot understand their teachers. They cannot prepare their lessons well. These children lose interest in studies; parents and teachers even the children do not understand the problem and then the child dropout from school.
Most of the cases, these problems are curable and preventable, if it could be identified on time. Another important issue is to aware parents, to urge them to realize that the eyes are very important part of body and how to keep the eyes in good shape. Vitamin-A containing foods are helpful and these kinds of food are available around us.
The School Sight Testing program is designed to identify short sight and visually impaired school going children and provide them advices/referral services. The program will also raise awareness of the students and teachers on basic eye care.
Objectives of School Sight Testing Program (SSTP):
- To identify short sight and other eye diseases among disadvantaged school children
- To provide referral service to the identified students
- To take initiative for their treatment
- To build awareness among students and teachers to prevent avoidable blindness
More schools of the underserved students are being included. Contact for information.
