Kumaran, a 17-year-old student in India, struggled in school because of his blurry vision. He couldn’t see the blackboard or practice writing without making mistakes. Studying was also difficult and his exam marks suffered as a result. His poor vision was holding him back and threatening to derail his education.
“There are lots of problems I faced, like [I was] unable to study, not able to play, and everything I was doing in a very wrong way,” Kumaran told us. His eyes were irritated, too. “I faced redness in my eyes, itchiness in eyes.”
But things changed for Kumaran when he received a free eye screening at school thanks to Orbis’s REACH program. REACH, which stands for Refractive Error Among CHildren, has changed the lives of millions of children throughout India and Nepal by bringing eye screenings and glasses directly to the classroom.