OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation backs eye screening for 2 million Maharashtra schoolchildren
The foundation, Maharashtra’s School Education Department and Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust will screen government-school students in Classes 5–10 from August 2026 to June 2029, with 100,000 free prescription spectacles planned.
What happened
Maharashtra, OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation and Ratna Nidhi will screen two million government-school students for vision issues over three years, with
Key facts
- 2 million students targeted
- Classes 5 to 10
- 100,000 free prescription spectacles
- 680,000+ children screened since 2019
- 800 schools
- 18 districts
- 63,000+ spectacles provided
Why this matters
The partnership with Maharashtra’s education department and Ratna Nidhi offers a replicable public-private model for expanding vision-care access through government-school networks.
What to watch
- District rollout pace beginning August 2026 and the number of schools onboarded.
- Ratio of students screened to students referred, prescribed and actually fitted with spectacles.
- Progress toward the planned 100,000 free prescription spectacles.
- Government disclosure of education, attendance or health outcomes tied to the program.
- New school-vision commitments from rival optical companies, hospital networks or state governments.
- Evidence of follow-up infrastructure for broken, lost or changed prescriptions.
- Build district-level screening, referral and spectacle-dispensing dashboards with public outcome reporting.
- Create low-cost replacement and repair channels through partner NGOs, local optical retailers and school touchpoints.
- Use anonymized program data to quantify links between corrected vision, attendance and classroom performance.
- Expand relationships with Maharashtra health, education and municipal bodies beyond the initial 18 districts.
- Pre-empt competitor responses by reinforcing EssilorLuxottica's affordable-eyecare and social-impact positioning in India.