A high rate of blindness is evident due to underdeveloped infrastructure and unsatisfactory eye care provision. This is because preventing or treating 80-90% of blindness is possible, and due to that, we seek a Government Contribution for the Blind in Nepal.
History of eye care program in Nepal
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Government of Nepal (GoN) established the Nepal National Programme for Prevention and Control of Blindness in 1980. Approximately one thousand eye surgeries were being performed each year in the capital city of Kathmandu, where there were a total of seven ophthalmologists in all of Nepal.
Following the publication of these findings, advocacy efforts successfully raised substantial amounts of money from donors to expand eye care services in Nepal. At first, money came from the World Health Organization (WHO).
After this, international donors began to collaborate directly with national nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The field of eye health care experienced a period of rapid expansion between the years 1980 and the middle of the 1990s.
Due to the significant increase in support for eye care and the burden of other serious medical issues that required independent resolution, the government of Nepal gradually withdrew from the field and turned it over to NGOs. Nepal’s central government once played a significant role in the provision of eye care, but this has since diminished to a negligible level.
Government Contribution for the Blind in Nepal: The Development
School and Hostel facilities
The Nepal Association of the Blind is an active group that works to help visually impaired people. The government runs 18 integrated programs and 81 resource classes for visually impaired students across the country, where they can get a good education.
Nepal has only one special school for visually impaired students, which is in the city of Dharan. It is called the Purwanchal Gyan Chakshu Vidyalaya. The students at the rest of the schools are both visually impaired and sighted.
Talking about the valley (Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur), there are a total of four schools where visually impaired students share the classroom and learn side by side with their sighted classmates.
- Kathmandu: Laboratory Higher Secondary School, Kirtipur.
- Bhaktapur: Adarsha Higher Secondary School, Layaku, Thimi.
- Lalitpur: Namuna Machhindra School (Mangalbazar) and Adarsh Saula Yubak H.S. School (Bungmati).
Schools also provide teachers in accordance with government regulations that require one teacher for every ten visually impaired students.
As part of the government’s initiative to ensure equal access to education for all students, braille books and audiobooks for the visually impaired are provided at no cost. Normally, blind kids are taught Braille first, and then, based on how well they can do it, they are put in different grades.
A few schools also provide hostels for students. Just like the teacher, the government gives one caretaker for every ten visually impaired students in the hostel.
Social allowances
The government of Nepal provides social allowances per month/for every ten months based on its criteria, i.e., the classification of the disability identification card. The degree of their severity determines the identification card. Only the payment varies, but all receive the same level of service.
Those with an A-class card are eligible to receive Rs. 4,000 per month for ten months. Similarly, individuals with a B-class card receive Rs 2100 per month for ten months. Those with a C-D class card do not receive government allowances, but they do receive all other facilities determined by the government of Nepal.
Provide laptops
However, It is not a mandatory provision; some local levels provide laptops for educational purposes, and some blind students receive laptops from their respective local levels after meeting certain criteria.
Government Contribution for the Blind in Nepal: Is it Enough?
The way a country takes care of and helps visually impaired people shows how committed it is to fair economic growth and good health care. The number of blind people in Nepal raises questions about how the government should help.
The Government Contribution for the Blind in Nepal has taken some steps to help people who are blind or visually impaired, but are they enough to meet their many and varied needs?
While the government of Nepal has taken some steps to support visually impaired individuals, there are significant gaps and challenges that suggest its efforts might not be sufficient to ensure a better quality of life for this community.
Here are some reasons why the current government contribution might fall short:
- Limited Access to Education
- Insufficient Healthcare Services
- Lack of Vocational Training and Employment Support
- Inadequate Accessibility Infrastructure
- Limited Awareness and Attitude Shifts
- Insufficient Social Welfare Programs
- Lack of Meaningful Participation
Government Contribution for the Blind in Nepal is essential. Along with them, it is also important for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), advocacy groups, and the visually impaired community to work together to make real progress and improve the lives of visually impaired people in Nepal.
READ OUR BLOGS:
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Blindness and Visual Impairment and Their Causes in Nepal
Journey to Independence: Empowering Visually Impaired Youth through Vocational Training in Nepal