Archive · 27 Aug 2026
Maharashtra to Screen 20 Lakh Students, Provide Free Spectacles
The Maharashtra government will check the eyesight of about 20 lakh children in government schools.
The programme is for students in Classes 5 to 10.
Eye-screening camps will be held in different parts of the state.
Children who need glasses can receive prescription spectacles for free.
The School Education Department will run the project with two charitable organisations.
The programme will last for 36 months.
Officials will use reports to track how many children are checked and helped.
The goal is to find eyesight problems early so children can read and learn more easily.
Maharashtra will conduct free eye examinations for about 20 lakh government-school students in Classes 5 to 10.
Students with refractive errors or other eligible vision problems will receive prescription spectacles at no cost.
The School Education Department signed a tripartite MoU with Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust and the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation.
Eye-screening camps will be held across Maharashtra in phases under a 36-month programme.
Quarterly reports and protected health-data systems will monitor screenings, beneficiaries and spectacles distributed.
- Who
- The Maharashtra School Education Department, Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust, the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation and about 20 lakh government-school students.
- What
- A statewide programme to provide free eye examinations and prescription spectacles to eligible students.
- When
- The programme will run for 36 months, with examinations conducted in phases.
- Where
- Government schools across Maharashtra, with screening camps organised across the state.
- Why
- To detect and address vision problems early and reduce difficulties in classroom learning caused by poor eyesight.
- Target students
- About 20 lakh students in Classes 5 to 10
- School coverage
- Government schools across Maharashtra
- Programme duration
- 36 months
- Implementation partner
- Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust
- Technical partner
- OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation
- Earlier progress
- More than 6.8 lakh students from 800 schools in 18 districts had been screened since 2019
- Spectacles previously distributed
- More than 63,000 pairs of spectacles
- Monitoring and privacy
- Quarterly reports will track project progress, while the agreement includes confidentiality and data-protection provisions
