Primary school children in Ashanti to undergo eye, ear screening

Kumasi, Nov 28, GNA - The Otumfuo Opoku Ware II Jubilee Foundation is to assist primary school children in the Ashanti Region to undergo eye and ear screening exercises to ensure that early steps are taken to correct any defects which could hamper their studies.

The children will also benefit from immunization programmes to prevent them from contracting communicable diseases. Dr James Nti, a Board Member of the Foundation, announced this at an awards night to climax the 10th anniversary celebration of the Foundation in Kumasi at the weekend.

The Foundation was established in 1995 to mark the silver jubilee of the late Otumfuo Opoku Ware II's ascension to the Golden Stool and is committed to promoting good health through various mediums, raising cultural awareness and promoting environmental awareness among the youth.

Dr Nti said over 400 primary school children in the Ejura-Sekyedumasi and Amansie West districts had already benefited from the screening project.

He appealed to district assemblies to strive to budget funds every year to assist in the project to reduce to the barest minimum the incidence of blindness and deafness among school children. Dr Nti announced that in an effort to enhance quality education in the country, the Foundation had awarded bursaries to about 1,000 Junior Secondary School (JSS) students in the Ashanti and parts of the Brong-Ahafo regions at the cost of 400 million cedis.