27 Jun 2016

The Minister of Education and Skills Development, Dr Unity Dow, has officially launched the Sathya Sai Student Vision Programme, which is a partnership between her ministry and the Sathya Sai Free Medical Clinic in Block 6.

Through this partnership, Opticians and Optometrists have volunteered to test students' vision and provide free spectacles to those who required them.

During the launch of the programmes on June 26, students from seven schools in the Bonnington South constituency, around Block 6 areas, participated in the programme.

Students from Gaborone and other places are expected to benefit from this programme for the next five years.

Officiating at the launch, Dr Dow expressed gratitude to Sathya Sai Free Medical Clinic and commended the clinic management for the gesture, saying “it is going to be life altering for the students, who seldom go for physical medical examinations to check their overall health.”

Poor vision, the minister said could affect students' academic performance. Once their vision was corrected with properly fitted spectacles, she said this would increase their learning and motivate them.

“Something as key as whether you can see properly could  be missed. As a child, because you are able to see other things around you, you don't realise you have a sight problem when struggling to read. But, if not properly corrected, poor vision can contribute to poor school performance until it gets corrected,” she said.

Sathya Sai Free Medical Clinic coordinator, Mr Murali Vaidyanathan, said the clinic planned to hold the programme annually. Poor vision if not properly corrected, he said affected students' studies and could also lead to future blindness. 

For his part, Sathya Sai Free Medical Clinic chairperson, Mr Gopal Addanki, said the Students Vision programme was part of the clinic's extension programmes. In 2015, he said the programme was successfully carried out and they managed to distribute close to 100 spectacles to students from three schools, through the help of donors.

“We have also requested the minister to give us an opportunity to introduce Education with Human Values Programme, which will impart basic human values to the students, like; discipline, compassion, care to the human beings,” he said.

The Sathya Sai Free Medical Clinic offers free medical services every Sunday. Dental care is offered on the second Sunday, while vision care is offered on the third and fourth Sundays of the month.

 The vision care examines and provides spectacles. They also addresses general health issues as well as dermatological problems, respiratory illness, cardiovascular problems, metabolic diseases and women's health issues. Ends