The visiting leader of the Opposition in the Australian Parliament, Peter Dutton MP, recently launched a campaign to vision screen 10,000 underprivileged school children in Delhi. 

As part of the launch, he visited Nava Hind Government Girls Senior Secondary School at Karol Bagh and distributed free spectacles to the children.

The campaign is organised by India Vision Institute (IVI). 

Present at the launch were Australian Shadow Minister Jason Wood MP and IVI’s CEO, Vinod Daniel, who introduced the campaign to the leaders. 

The spectacles distributed are part of IVI’s Eye See & I Learn campaign for underprivileged school children in Delhi NCR, with support from Accor India, that was launched by Mr Dutton. 

IVI will conduct 10,000 vision screenings for underprivileged school children in Delhi and another 10,000 in Chennai with support from Accor India. 

Welcoming the leaders to the vision screening camp in Delhi, IVI’s CEO Vinod Daniel said, “Almost 80 per cent of what a child learns in school is through visual perception. Without visual correction, it becomes difficult for children to complete their studies.” 

“I thank Accor India for supporting IVI in this program. Vision correction and a simple pair of glasses make children do well in class as well as in outdoor activities.  They become self-confident and are able to complete their school education, often with flying colours,” he added. 

Dutton said, “It was a real honour today to meet the children who are benefiting from this program and to see the effectiveness that their corrective eyewear has in assisting with their education. I congratulate the IVI and their professional team of optometrists who work so hard to provide this service in schools and for the larger betterment of society.” 

Peter Dutton represents the seat of Dickson in Queensland state and is the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia in Parliament since May 2022. 

He has previously served as the Minister for Defence from 2021 to 2022 and the Minister for Home Affairs 2017-21. 

Dutton has held ministerial portfolios in the federal governments of prime ministers John Howard, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison.

Jason Wood represents the La Trobe seat in the Federal Parliament.