What started with a cardboard box and a dream has grown into a global initiative improving eye health for children across 3 countries in Asia (India, Singapore, and Cambodia).

Anish Golikere and Arnav Jain, two driven sixth form students at Tanglin and Co-Founders of Vision for All, launched Vision For All to tackle a simple but overlooked problem: children not having access to basic eye care and the rising prevalence of myopia in children.

Their idea was simple: collect unused glasses from families around Tanglin and send them to children in Cambodia. In just two weeks, they gathered over 500 pairs. Since then, their student-led initiative has exponentially grown, carrying out many interactive workshops, creating educational resources (such as 500+ myopia-themed storybooks translated into 4 languages) helping reach over 24,000 children across Singapore, Cambodia, and India through interactive workshops, multilingual storybooks & educational resources, and a website.

Backed by the Dierdre Lew Service Award and with over $12,000 raised through creative student-led fundraising, the duo built out launched their own awareness campaigns and an app to help prevent early-onset myopia in children.

Their work has already helped children see more clearly - and they’re just getting started! Following interest from the Indian government and subsequent pilot runs in the state of Assam, Vision For All is looking to expand its efforts in through more government partnerships and increased outreach to underserved communities.

“Sometimes the biggest impact comes from the simplest ideas,” Arnav said.  “We just want to make sure no child struggles to see the board,” Anish added.

(This is a press release, shared with and published on The New Indian Express)