Boys more reluctant to wear specs: study

Besides Gogate,Ashok Mahadik of the District Blindness Control society,researchers of the School of Optometry,Bharati Vidyapeeth Medical College and others were involved in the study and their findings were published in the January issue of the Indian Journal of Opthalmology. They found that the free spectacle programme in the rural districts of Pune ensured accessibility to spectacle correction to schoolchildren,but the compliance to wear was poor. As many as 40 per cent children were not compliant because they were teased about it,did not like or were not comfortable using their spectacles. The children were also not happy about the quality of spectacles provided.

As many as 56,827 students from secondary schools run by Pune Zilla Parishad were examined for refractive errors under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan,of which 2,378 were found to have refractive errors — myopia or hyperopia — requiring correction. As many as 2,312 students were provided spectacles in 2009,of whom 1,018 were re-examined in 2010. While 300 of them were wearing their spectacles at the time of the visit,15 had them in their school bags,492 claimed to have them at home and 211 reported not having them at all. As many as 142 children were teased while at least 125 claimed their spectacles were broken.

While 67 students said they had lost the spectacles,117 said they forgot them at home,109 used them sometimes and 86 categorically refused to wear them as they did not like to. It was also observed that the highest compliance rates were with those whose parents were post graduates.

As many as 344 students used their spectacles seven months to one year ago while 141 had not worn spectacles for the past three-six months,105 had not used them for the past two months,64 had worn them in the previous month and 64 the previous week. A total of 1,010 had a positive attitude to wearing spectacles,but 498 were not happy with the quality of spectacles provided to them.

The study also found that children who were compliant with spectacles had an average academic score better than that of their non-compliant peers. Children from small villages were more compliant than those from large villages or small towns.