Dawoodi Bohras launch nat’l eye health event, 1st camp at Hwh school
Times of India | 3 September 2026
Kolkata: As poor eyesight continues to remain an overlooked barrier to classroom learning, the Dawoodi Bohra community’s philanthropic initiative Project Rise has launched a four-month school eye health programme that will screen 20,000 children across more than 30 govt schools in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.
The ‘Vision for Every Child’ initiative, launched in partnership with CBM India Trust, was inaugurated at Burhani Complex on Topsia Road on Wednesday, followed by a screening camp at Sir Syed Ahmed High School in Howrah.
The programme will provide free glasses to kids with refractive errors, besides facilitating specialist referrals and supporting paediatric surgeries for those requiring further treatment. It will also include preventive eye-health education for students and training for more than 200 teachers.
Taher Totanawala, Project Rise coordinator of Kolkata, said the initiative brought together two areas that Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin consistently emphasised: health and education. “A child should not fall behind in school because a treatable vision problem has gone unnoticed,” said Taher.
Sony Thomas, executive director of CBM India Trust, said “Screening is the first step. A child who needs spectacles, specialist care or surgery must receive it.” Among the schools covered are Khila Gopimohan Sikshaya Sadan, Talbandi Belayet Ali High School, Brahmampara Chintamani Institution, Nayachak Jadunath High School, Dafarpur Prabartak Vidyamandir, Liluah TRG Khemka School and Howrah Urdu Girls’ School.
It will align with National Programme for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment and Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram.