The Future of Education

At a school in Tanzania, 13 local vision teacher students carried out a vision screening and intervention program with 26 pupils in Standard two. The pupils were collected after a larger vision-screening program some months earlier. The criteria for being included in the intervention were vision disturbances that could affect reading and writing. In this school, pupils have no books. Therefore the teachers have to write all the text that pupils have to read and learn on the blackboard and the pupils have to copy this into their notebooks. In this school the actual classes had nearly seventy pupils each. The screening procedure included testing of visual acuity for a reading distance and on three meters. It was also looked into their stereo vision and reading skills. The intervention was individually adjusted and consisted of 12 lessons focusing on developing steadier and more precise eye motor functions and to improve their visual attention. After the intervention, the results are positive with respect to pupil’s visual functions and their reading performance. These positive changes will be a big help for the pupils further work in school and education.

Keywords: Improving reading, vision development, the reading process, primary school;