On August 13, 2024, in partnership with 15 government and private organizations in Pattani Province, including Pattani Provincial Administrative Organization, Pattani Provincial Public Health Office, National Health Security Office (NHSO) Area 12, Pattani Provincial Education Office, Health Center 12 Yala, Pattani Provincial Local Government, Pattani Hospital, Faculty of Optometry, Ramkhamhaeng University, Faculty of Optometry, Rangsit University, Pattani Red Cross Society, Thai Optometry Association, Big C Supercenter Public Company Limited, Pithan Phanich Company Limited, and Pattani Chamber of Commerce Equity Lab by the Equitable Education Fund (EEF) signed a memorandum of understanding for the “I SEE THE FUTURE: Just See and Change the Future” innovation design project. The project aims to reduce the risk factors that lead to children and youth dropping out of school by providing free vision screening and glasses to all residents of Pattani Province.
In partnership with NHSO, Equity Lab’s “I SEE THE FUTURE: Just See and Change the Future” vision screening innovation design project seeks to establish a referral system for children with vision issues to receive prompt care and additionally a mechanism to encourage local work so that all children can access vision screening services and receive high-quality eyeglasses. In addition, a memorandum of understanding was signed this time with the aim of combining the work to the Thailand Zero Dropout mission, which aims to identify and search for children and youth who have left the educational system and use network partner collaboration to create a care process that is in line with the challenges faced by families and children on an individual basis.
Following the working group’s initial field screening of students in Pattani Province from 72 schools run by the local administrative organization and neighboring schools in May 2024, 1,725 students from kindergarten 1 through Mathayom 3 had their vision screened; 238 of these students, or 13.8% of the total, needed glasses. Several 77 individuals, or 4.46% of the population, had to be referred for treatment by an ophthalmologist due to eye conditions like cataracts, lazy eye, strabismus, and corneal ulcers. Other issues included children with myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, myopia and astigmatism, and hyperopia and astigmatism. For children who require glasses initially, 125 people will receive eyeglasses at the signing ceremony of this memorandum of understanding. All of them are students from schools in Pattani Municipality, including Municipal 1 School Ban Chabang Tiko, Municipal 2 School Wat Tani Norn Samoson, Municipal 3 School Ban Pak Nam, Municipal 4 School Wat Nopphawongsaram, Municipal 5 School Pattani Municipality and Pattani City School. They will receive ongoing care for eye conditions that require sophisticated diagnosis and treatment under the collaboration of educational staff, medical staff, public health, local administrative organizations, the private sector, educational institutions, and network partners at all levels.
According to Mr. Set Aljufree, Chief Executive of the Pattani Provincial Administrative Organization, this collaboration was made feasible since numerous sectors acknowledge the significance of vision issues in children and youth, which pose barriers to their further education. Thus, the signing of this memorandum of agreement has a significant objective: to improve children’s quality of life and scholastic development.
“Because vision influences children’s intelligence, vision issues have an impact on educational markers. 238 of the 1,700 children and youth had visual impairments, according to data from the Office of the Basic Education Commission and associated organizations. According to data provided by the Pattani Provincial Education Office, there are still a lot of youngsters in Pattani Province who are in need of assistance, as the province is home to some 190,000 primary and secondary school students. We have to take immediate action.”
“We see that every sector is important and has the same goal,” Mr. Set continued. As a result, this activity is integrated under an agreement that recognizes the value of these partnerships in advancing the mission.
Dr. Ruchta Sa-la, Director of Pattani Hospital, one of the partners driving the I SEE THE FUTURE project, mentioned the importance of a detailed vision examination from the hospital as the final step. There will be optometrists and ophthalmologists who are skilled in diagnosing symptoms to diagnose symptoms accurately and lead to appropriate correction.
“Learning, personality development, and other skills like communication or social interaction are all impacted when children have latent eye diseases or are nearsighted or astigmatic and have not yet been diagnosed, or when some have these conditions but have not yet displayed obvious symptoms. Thus, obtaining a thorough diagnostic from the hospital is crucial before initiating the procedure of creating glasses that fit the patient’s visual value. Or, if an eye condition exists, it will be treated right away before the youngster becomes an adolescent or an adult.”
“This project is very beneficial for students because some students, including the teacher, never knew that the students had abnormal vision before,” said Suchada Dulyakul, a teacher at Municipal 4 School Wat Nopphawongsaram, who brought her students to receive glasses at today’s event. Nevertheless, after the screening, they learned about the issue and realized what had happened.
“All the children were overjoyed since they had been waiting for this. Some kids didn’t know they had vision issues. Consequently, they had never worn glasses before. They were eligible to acquire glasses following the proper inspection. Everyone was grinning as the problem was resolved.”
A sixth-grader from Municipal 4 School named Miss Tasneem Rahim came in to get glasses and shared her sentiments with us after putting them on. “I am delighted,” she said. Her vision had been fuzzy before. She struggled to see the board well when studying. To see a little better, she attempted to sit at the front. Her vision improved, though, after donning the spectacles. She had considerably better vision. As a result, studying and doing tasks became simpler.
