Perfect vision for Uitenhage’s youngsters

As part of the Volkswagen for Good campaign, Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA) is addressing the impact of poor eyesight as a stumbling block to Early Childhood Development.

“Our goal is to ensure that all children and learners in our communities of Uitenhage and Despatch are functionally literate by the time they reach the age of 10,” said VWSA MD Thomas Schaefer.

It is for this reason that VWSA is funding spectacles for Grade 3 learners in primary schools around Uitenhage.

Eleven learners from Phakamile, Ilinge and Uitenhage Primary Schools, were the first beneficiaries of spectacles, with a bigger rollout planned to address the poor eyesight of all the learners in these three schools.

“Good eyesight has a strong impact on education, children learn through visual demonstrations and this in turn is connected to reading and writing,” said Andreen Laurence, Grade 3 teacher at Uitenhage Primary School.

“If the learners cannot see properly, then they cannot read and write, it is therefore imperative to address poor eyesight in order to achieve our goals of addressing functional illiteracy,” concluded Thomas Schaefer.

VWSA has invested more than R100 million on CSI projects with a strong emphasis on education, youth development, enterprise development, health, community and wellbeing. In addition, environmental initiatives and employee volunteerism have also been focused upon.