VisionSpring's Clear Vision Initiative To Enhance Visual Acuity Of Tea Pluckers

Stakeholders from tea industry and the eyecare sector have expressed their support and appreciation for VisionSpring’s Clear Vision initiative, which involves eye screening and providing glasses to tea pluckers.

Eyeglasses can greatly improve the productivity of a tea plucker by enhancing their visual acuity and reducing eye strain. If a tea plucker has uncorrected vision problems, it may have difficulty seeing the different types of tea leaves, which can lead to mistakes and decreased efficiency. In addition, the repetitive and precise nature of tea plucking can cause eye strain and fatigue, which can reduce productivity and increase the risk of injury.

VisionSpring has conducted more than 80,000 eye screenings in Assam tea gardens and distributed 40,000 eyeglasses to tea pickers.

VisionSpring is the social enterprise accelerating the use of eyeglasses in emerging and frontier markets and its mission is to increase lifelong learning, learning and well-being through eyeglasses for people vulnerable to poverty. The organisation has an office in New Delhi.

A 2018 study conducted with tea pickers in Assam had found that with reading glasses, productivity had increased by 22 percent on average and up to 32 percent among workers over 50.

The organization held two meetings in Assam and Kolkata recently which saw unequivocal support by representatives from tea and eye care sector.

VisionSpring held a major event at Tollygunge Club, Kolkata on June 10 on ‘Clear Vision Tea Gardens: Building Collaborative Action’.

This event focused on how clear vision through eyeglasses can lead to tremendous benefits with respect to productivity and earnings for tea garden workers. The meeting discussed the ways to make India into a clear vision nation. The event was attended by senior leaders from the tea sector, government, corporate, NGOs, social entrepreneurship, family foundations, and eye hospitals.

Secretary of Tea Research Association Joydeep Phukan said the idea of screening all tea workers in the 200th year of Assam tea which is now underway can be explored.

“The Assam Government has been proactive on the welfare of tea workers," he said.

P K Bhattacharjee of the Tea Association of India said the association has pledged to support VisionSpring in all its activities in tea gardens.

VisionSpring launched ‘Livelihoods in Focus’ in January this year in Guwahati, with a commitment of providing eyeglasses to artisans and micro-entrepreneurs in the region over the next five years.

Dr. S Babu, the director of the Tea Research Association in Jorhat, described VisionSpring’s initiative as “fantastic,” while acknowledging that there is still a long way to go.

The event in Assam discussed about the progress made by the organisation in providing eyeglasses to tea pickers, on the quality of its Made in India, CE and ISO certified eyeglasses.

Nirbhay Singh, the Program Manager of the Ethical Tea Partnership in Assam, expressed a keen interest in collaborating with VisionSpring on the eye care initiative.

Tasdiq Ghaznavi, a senior official in Solidaridad, viewed the program as a great opportunity for the tea industry to collaborate with other stakeholders and provide robust eye care support to tea pickers.During the meetings, several speakers emphasized the importance of eye screening for school-going children.

Sajjan Harlalka from the K K Saharia Lions Eye Hospital in Dibrugarh highlighted that poor vision is causing children to drop out of school.

He advocated for providing free eyeglasses to children, aligning with VisionSpring’s See to Learn Program. Vision problems in children can manifest as behavioural or developmental issues, leading to frustration, inattentiveness, or disruptive behaviour.

Sandipan Bhattacharya from the Rainforest Alliance emphasized the need to extend eye screening benefits to small tea growers, who now account for more than half of India’s tea production.

In North Bengal, VisionSpring is collaborating with the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers to include small tea growers in eye screening programs.

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