Students who cannot read the blackboard, copy slowly from their notebooks or struggle to follow lessons even from the front bench are often seen by teachers and parents as inattentive or lazy. The real reason can be a serious eye disease or a vision defect. To find a lasting answer to this problem, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Vision Foundation of India have launched 'Bal Drishti', an innovative initiative.
The campaign, which took shape on the special initiative of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, aims to complete full eye examinations of about 3 lakh students across 1,200 BMC schools in the next three years.
Targeting refractive errors and childhood blindness 'Bal Drishti' focuses mainly on early diagnosis of refractive errors and amblyopia, or 'lazy eye'. The initiative has been linked to the school health and wellbeing programme under the Centre's Ayushman Bharat scheme.
What the numbers say: About 93 lakh children across the country are affected by various vision defects. A study published in the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology says childhood blindness costs the economy an indirect loss of about Rs 1,300 crore every year.
Treatment is possible: More than 75 per cent of vision defects in children can be fully corrected with the right glasses or simple treatment, if detected on time.
Over 40,000 students screened in just a few months Between February and September, screening drives were held in 227 BMC schools. Of the 59,150 students in these schools, 68 per cent, or 40,270 students, have been screened. This includes 20,390 boys and 19,880 girls, and participation has been almost equal between the two groups.
The screening revealed several shocking and serious findings:
Very high myopia: Some students had minus 11.50 SPH and others as high as minus 16 SPH. Normal vision is taken as zero, and anything beyond minus 6 is considered extremely severe, where objects even at some distance cannot be seen.
Cataract and other diseases: Some children had cataracts at a young age. The screening also picked up other eye disorders that had gone unnoticed at home and in class.
Colour blindness: 31 students were found to have difficulty identifying colours. The condition cannot be cured, but once teachers know about it, they can change their teaching methods, and children get better guidance when choosing a career.
Free surgery and glasses through home visits and follow-up Screening does not stop at identification. Students in need are being sent to the 'Community Eye Clinic' at Tardeo for detailed examination:
Free glasses: So far, 361 students have received free glasses of the required power.
Surgery: Free surgery has been successfully completed on four students with a severe squint.
Counselling at home: Of the 1,950 students flagged after screening, 549 have so far reached the clinic for further tests. Parents of the rest are being followed up regularly through home visits and school visits.
Vedant's success story:
Vedant Nerulkar, a nine-year-old in Class 4 at the Ganpatrao Kadam Municipal School in Lower Parel, could not read the blackboard even from the front bench because of a squint. He had become withdrawn in class. After free surgery under 'Bal Drishti', he now reads the board easily and answers questions in class with confidence.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has specially praised the coordination among the civic health teams, teachers and the Vision Foundation. The initiative improves students' learning and keeps their futures from being dimmed, and it will serve as a model for other cities too.