Gift Of Sight
Inner Wheel Club of Johor Bahru
19 October 2022
On 18th October 2022, the Inner Wheel Club of Johor Bahru (IWC JB) executed a project headed by Nalini Panjalingam, in collaboration with Kaarainagar Fraternity Centre Johor Bahru and other donors. The Club arranged for free Vision Screening for 31 underprivileged B40 students from SJKT Gelang Patah, Johor. Twenty-two of the children received free spectacles on Monday, 07th November 2022.
On the 18th and 19th October 2022, Inner Wheel Club of Johor Bahru in collaboration with The Freemasons, Johor Bahru and other donors, then conducted another free Vision Screening for 50 underprivileged B40 students from SJKT Masai, Johor. 37 students received free spectacles on the 3rd November2022. The free Vision screenings & consultation plus discounted rate for all the spectacles was conducted and provided by Optician Mr. Jack Tham from Eye House Seremban.
Poor vision is the most common impairment affecting school aged children in our country. The leading and most easily remedied cause of visual impairment among children is refractive error, affecting children aged between 5 and 12 years, Spectacles provide a safe and inexpensive treatment. Several studies report that children with uncorrected refractive errors have lower scores on a variety of motor and cognitive tests and that improvements in reading may occur when vision problems are corrected.
However, the relation between academic achievement and refractive error may be complex. Myopia (near sightedness) causes difficulty in seeing distant objects and is more common in school aged children, particularly in Asia. Barriers to accessing refractive care include cost and poor quality of available glasses and lack of knowledge about myopia and the benefits of its correction.
The Club hypothesized that education promoting the wearing of glasses aimed at school children with correctable refractive error, and providing such children with free spectacles, would increase the children’s impaired vision and improve their academic performance.
In conclusion, Eye health is often neglected due to financial difficulties and this may affect the lives of our young people in terms of education, daily tasks and even safety.
The Inner Wheel Club of Johor Bahru is glad to be able to do its part in providing basic optical care for underprivileged primary school students and it is hoped that this project will be on going.
~ Natassha Thambaiya