Healthy eyesight is essential to learning and achieving success. It allows us to pick up skills and also enables us to achieve our tasks. Unfortunately, at least ten in every 100 Filipino students suffer from poor eyesight. This concern has led Essilor Vision Foundation (EVF) to team up with leading actor and brand ambassador Piolo Pascual to launch Eye Can Succeed, a program geared at providing free eye check-ups and free prescription eyeglasses to help 10,000 senior high school students pursue higher education and achieve success.
EVF kicked off the advocacy campaign at Rizal High School, which has been recognized by the Guinness World Records as the largest secondary school in the world, by having licensed eye health professionals discuss the importance of healthy vision, proper eye care, and optometry as a career option for Grades 11 and 12 students in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) academic strand. With the assistance of volunteer optometrists, EVF examined the school’s 4,000-strong Grades 11 and 12 students and distributed free prescription glasses to students who are in need.
The campaign is focused on senior high school students who are vulnerable to vision problems due to long hours of reading and exposure to blue light from digital devices like laptops and computers. They are also at a critical stage in their lives, where the pressure of choosing a career path looms before them. EVF aims to ease some of their concerns by giving them free eye examinations and eyeglasses when needed, so they can have clear vision which is critical to pursuing their studies and achieving their dreams.
“Poor eyesight is a rampant issue among young Filipinos simply because very few are aware on the importance of having a regular eye check-up,” noted Essilor Philippines marketing manager Jinky Navo. “Through Eye Can Succeed, which we have initiated with our brand ambassador Piolo Pascual, we aim to highlight the importance of good vision in achieving one’s dreams and success.”
As Essilor’s brand ambassador, Piolo is a strong advocate of healthy eyesight for Filipinos. He believes that the campaign will not only help students succeed in the near future, it will also help them perform well in their daily tasks and see life clearly. He said, “Education plays a huge role in the future of these young Filipinos, and poor eyesight will only hinder their progress in learning. By giving them thorough eye check-ups and access to free prescription eyeglasses, they will no longer struggle with vision problems in their lessons, allowing their natural intelligence to shine through.”
This perspective is shared by Lauren Wyper, Essilor Vision Foundation (EVF) associate director of communications. She said, “It is alarming to learn that many of our target public school students have never had their eyes checked up at all. Launching the Eye Can Succeed campaign here in the Philippines not only helps fulfill the foundation’s mission of enabling Filipinos to have better lives through better sight, but also enables us to spread awareness on the importance of proper eye care through an expanded network consisting of academic institutions, the media, and local campaign ambassador Piolo Pascual.”
Virginia Membrebe, Rizal High School principal, remarked, “We are very grateful and honored for being the first to benefit from EVF’S Eye Can Succeed school tour. Through the free eye check-ups and prescription glasses of the campaign, our students are given a great opportunity to have better vision which is vital for their education.”
The Essilor Vision Foundation is committed to eliminating poor vision and its lifelong consequences, and to providing underprivileged people the opportunity to live a better life through better sight. For more information about EVF and the Eye Can Succeed advocacy campaign, please visit Essilor’s website at www.essilor.com.ph, and follow @EssilorPH on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Incorporated on April 2014 in Singapore with Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister of Environment as its Guest Of Honour, the Essilor Vision Foundation (EVF) is committed to eliminating poor vision and its lifelong consequences, and to providing underprivileged people the opportunity to live a better life through better sight.
Its outreach programs aims to improve vision needs for rural and under-served communities, and it continues to look for like-minded global, regional and/or local Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to partner with in its charity vision initiatives which will bring greater social and economic impact to these communities.
