THE Department of Education hosted a National Eye Care Awareness programme as the part of the school’s health programme, which is meant to assist learners who have difficulty with their vision.
This awareness campaign ran from September 21 to October 18. Spokesperson for the Department of Education, Malibongwe Mtima, said the department targeted two to four mainstream schools per district, screening approximately 250 000 children, of whom approximately 2 500 would be referred to health clinics and Department of Health (DoH) eye clinics at Frere Hospital, PE Provincial Hospital or Mthatha General Hospital for formal testing and spectacles, if required.
“The DoH was involved in planning. We also partnered with SpecSavers’ Right to Sight programme. We visited Zamokuhle Special School in Bizana, with our partners, Nkosinathi Foundation. We ran two mornings of assessment for learners at the school,” said Mtima.
He added that all three schools for the learners with visual impairment attended the outreach at Zamokuhle Special School and it served to strengthen the connections with the three schools.
Mtima added that other partners, Editmicro and the SA National Council for the Blind, also contributed to the programme and the discussion on how to improve services for all learners with visual impairment.
