Dawoodi Bohras launch eye health programme for 20,000 schoolchildren

September 4, 2026 /Posted byPrajwal EW / 0

The Dawoodi Bohra community’s philanthropic initiative, Project Rise, has partnered with CBM India Trust to launch an eye health programme for 20,000 schoolchildren in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.

The four-month ‘Vision for Every Child’ programme will cover more than 30 government schools in Howrah and Sehore. It will provide eye screenings, free spectacles, referrals to specialists and support for paediatric surgeries.

The initiative was inaugurated at Burhani Complex in Kolkata, followed by a screening camp at Sir Syed Ahmed High School.

More than 200 teachers will be trained to identify signs of visual impairment among students, including difficulty reading from a distance or following classroom material. Students will also receive information on preventive eye care.

“Screening is the first step. What matters is ensuring that a child who needs spectacles, specialist care or surgery receives it, along with the necessary follow-up,” said Sony Thomas, executive director of CBM India Trust.

Project Rise coordinator Taher Totanawala said the initiative aimed to identify vision problems early and ensure that children received the required treatment and support.

The programme has been aligned with the National Programme for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment and the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram.

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“Education is not the same as literacy or certification; it should change what we do with what we know. A mark shows what a student memorised, not what changed in them. Students are prepared to be employable, but not always to be transformed. We must stop confusing the certificate with the change it was meant to represent.”

- Ponmythili Muralidharan, The Indian Express, (29/8)

“Dalits in Indian academia are always managing themselves, projecting or living up to a certain image so as to keep hasty criticism at bay. If they stray a millimetre from the socially sanctioned script, disgrace of a kind that exists solely for them befalls them. To question someone’s academic credibility is one thing, but to violate their dignity is anything but responsible criticism. Black people and Dalits are forced to hold on to whatever dignity is left with them, enduring everyday racism and casteism. They know that what routinely bypasses the social gaze will be unforgivable in their case. In societies where race and caste continue to determine the majority’s standing, we ought to be mindful of the unethical foundations of such concerns for ethical conduct. To be Black, to be a Dalit, or any kind of minority, is a costly thing in society. Even in educational institutions, many of the marginalised continue to pay with their life.”

- Irfanullah Farooqi & Suraj Gogoi, The Indian Express, (3/9)

Dawoodi Bohras launch eye health programme for 20,000 schoolchildren

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