Reaching out: a strategy to provide primary eye care through the indigenous educational system in Pakistan

IntroductionIn Pakistan, there is a unique and indigenously established system of education called the madaris . It is the plural of madrassa, which is an Arabic word for a school system. In the context of Pakistan, it refers to an institutional set-up that runs in parallel to the conventional schooling system and is community-based. It is perhaps the oldest and the largest educational system of its kind whereby the students are provided with free religious education. Some institutions offer a combination of religious learning and regular schooling.The facilities and the curricula vary from one madrassa to another. Since a majority of the students studying here belong to the poor and neglected socio-economic level of society, many offer free accommodation and food to the students in hostels, and most of these provide free education. These institutions are mostly funded by philanthropists; the standard of living of the students, however, is not always satisfactory.A few madaris provide basic health care services to their students, but most are neglected both by the government and the voluntary sectors. It is difficult to find data on the health status of these students.This article reports a study on these madaris that was carried out in 2002 in the district of Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan which has a population of 2.5 million. It aimed to determine the prevalence of blindness and low vision among students in the age group of five to 15 years. It offers an agenda for primary eye care and highlights the importance of integrated health care reforms at the national level for this large non-government community education system that caters to an estimated half a million children throughout Pakistan