SRIKAKULAM: Several students of government schools have been found suffering from visual defects. Some are even found to be suffering from more than -5 visual impairment, impacting their studies. Keeping all this in view, district collector K Dhananjaya Reddy initiated an innovative programme titled Chinnari Choopu. Under it, medical teams have been deployed in various parts of the district for conducting eye tests among the students.
About 3,75,610 students are scheduled to undergo the screening for detection of any possible visual impairment in the district.Irrespective of the status of the school, such as government, government aided and private, the district collector wanted all students, studying between Class I and Class X in the district, to be covered.Spectacles are being supplied to the students following eye tests.
About 3,359 spectacles were distributed in the first phase. While under the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB), all students studying from Class VI to Class X in government schools are scheduled to be covered, all the students from Class I to Class X will be covered under the Chinnari Choopu programme.
With training being given to the school teachers, they conducted the preliminary vision tests, by using number and alphabet boards, said district medical and health officer (DM&HO) M Chenchayya.
After the preliminary examinations, students suspected to be suffering from some eye anomaly were referred to Mukhyamantri E-eye Kendras and nearby government area hospitals for eye tests to be done with the help of modern equipment and machines.
“While as many as 20,014 students, from 2,138 schools in the district, have been tested for visual defects so far, the remaining schools are yet to conduct the preliminary screenings,” the DM&HO said.
Eye tests: What’s done, what needs to be done
About 8,632 students from 841 schools were screened for visual defects under the first phase
About 6,874 students from 597 schools visited the eye testing centres in the hospitals
Optometrists confirmed visual defects in about 3,359 students
With the district blind control society grants, spectacles were issued to all 3,359 students in the 1st phase
According to the DMHO, the second phase is underway
Under the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB), all students studying from Class VI to Class X in government schools are scheduled to be covered
And all the students from Class I to Class X will be covered under the programme