The MEC for Education, Tate Makgoe - in collaboration with Ster-Kinekor - handed over spectacles to learners of the Nomsa Secondary School in Deneysville earlier on Tuesday. Ster-Kinekor’s Corporate Social Investment (CSI) manager, Geraldine Engelman, tells OFM News as part of their initiative, they have embarked on this project with the Premier Health Foundation to screen learners who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, and identify and assist those with visual difficulties. She says over 3 100 learners were screened and out of that, only 246 learners expected to receive their spectacles today.

“We worked hand in hand with the Department of Education, the Department of Health and the non-governmental organisations. These are the learners who were initially screened by the Department of Health and are on the waiting list for spectacles. They get identified initially by the health workers and that’s when we come in as a funder and we assist with paying for the project itself,” adds Engelman.

Meanwhile, Makgoe appreciated the gesture by stating that the department will be at ease knowing that learners will write their final exams without any vision difficulties. He added that the initiative will assist those that have been hit hard by poverty, which they can leave behind through education. Makgoe adds that whilst 246 learners will receive their spectacles, 3 more learners will have surgical intervention in hospital after their cases were identified as critical. Engelman says that they are targeting to screen just over 300 000 learners and provide at least 3 000 spectacles in the Free State. She adds that seven schools have already been identified in Deneysville and they will then be moving from district to district within the Free State.

OFM News