The exercise, which formed part of the implementation of the "Blissful Sight for Kids" project being funded by Ghana Vision, a non-profit organisation based in Switzerland, is aimed at identifying and treating school kids with visual problems to improve their education.

Speaking to the media after the exercise, Dr Zakarea Al-hassan Balure, an Optometrist and Manager of Bliss Eye Care, said the screening revealed that some children had conjunctivitis, allergies, glaucoma, and refractive errors among others and were issued with medications and glasses appropriately to correct their problems.

He said the project targeted children because they believed that children were the future leaders, but could only rightly take up that task through education, which poor vision could truncate.

The Bliss Eye Care Manager commended the people for the massive turn out for the exercise and advised parents to take their children's eye care issues seriously by paying regular visits to the eye clinic to avoid complications in the future.

"Through our project, we are committed to helping children in the region overcome their visual challenges so that they can complete their education and become the future leaders that they ought to be," Dr Balure said.

He noted that the free eye screening and treatment project had already reached out to thousands of school kids across nine out of the 11 Municipal and District Assemblies in the Upper West Region.

Mr Abudu Issahaku, the Wa Municipal School Health Education Programme (SHEP) Coordinator, said there were lots of children in the Charia circuit demonstrating poor visual tendencies in class.

He therefore lauded Bliss Eye Care for initiating the project to help these children overcome their visual challenges and to improve on their education.Madam Fadeela Ibrahim Froko, a teacher in Zingu Basic School, said children with poor eye sight often suffered a lot in class as they struggle to see and write well from the board.

She stressed on the need for teachers to be observant so they could identify such children and help them rather than scolding them ignorantly.

She thanked Bliss Eye Care for the support, saying many of the children would have lived with their conditions till they worsened.

Mr Stephen Naah, the Assembly member for Charia Electoral Area, said many parents could not send their children to seek eye care services due to poverty and thanked Bliss Eye Care for coming to help them.