The SOS Children Villages Ghana (SOSCV) through the “Quality Education Now” (QEN) project has organised eye screening exercise for 580 pupils in public schools at Osino and Adukrom as part of activities to ensure effective learning in the schools.

The programme, on the theme “See Well Eye Care” was expected to cover about 650 pupils from the kindergarten, primary and the Junior High Schools (JHS).

Mr Samuel Abrokwa- Boye, the Project Coordinator of QEN-Asiakwa- location, said SOSCV-Ghana in delivering a safe environment for all, facilitated the exercise to help create awareness of possible eye defects through a comprehensive eye screening and ocular health education in various schools across the country.

He added that the eye screening exercise was chosen by the QEN project because of the high prevalence of eye abnormalities among school children in the Ghanaian society.

He explained that the QEN project chose the Adukrom M/A Basic and the Osino Presbyterian Primary and Junior High schools for the eye screening activity because most of the children came from deprived homes and could not afford to do the screening on their own.

Mr.Abrokwa- Boye said the SOSCV-Ghana also made available refraction and dispensing of optical aids for those with refractive errors for treatment.

He hinted that to sustain the programme, the SOSCV-Ghana would liaise with other health institutions to replicate the eye screening programme in all the various governmental and non-governmental institutions in the East Akim Municipality.

He noted that the SOSCV-Ghana would also encompass other related areas like ENT and Dental due to the critical role they play in a child’s learning and education.

Dr Zita Ohenewaa Gyasi, the Outreach Director said the most common conditions among large number of the students were disc, glaucoma, allergies of the eye and few cases of refractive errors.

She said the students with the suspected glaucoma would be referred to government Hospitals in the locality for further treatments and medication.

Dr Ohenewaa Gyasi urged Ghanaians to take good care of their sight because the eye is the opening to the body and advised Ghanaians to make it a habit to wash their faces regularly every morning and to visit the obstetric regularly.

Madam Harriet Agyei, the Headmistress of Adukrom M/A Basic School commended the SOSCV- QEN for the gesture and appealed to other NGOs to emulate the kind gesture.