Vision Screening of Younger School Children by School Teachers: A Pilot Study in Udaipur City, Western India

PURPOSE: To assess the reliability of school teachers for vision screening of younger school children and to study the pattern of vision problems. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, trained school teachers screened 5,938 school children aged 3 to 8 years for vision and ocular disorders. Children were cross screened by professionals to assess the reliability of the teachers in vision screening and detecting ocular disorders in these children. The pattern of visual acuity, ametropia and ocular disorders was studied. RESULTS: Sensitivity and specificity of the vision screening by school teachers was 69.2% (95% CI: 66.8-71.5%) and 95.3% (95% CI: 94.5-95.8%), respectively. The positive predictive value was 83.5% (95% CI: 81.4-85.6%) and negative predictive value was 89.8% (95% CI: 88.8-90.6%). The kappa statistic was 0.68 (95% CI: 0.66-0.7). CONCLUSION: School teachers could effectively screen younger school children for vision assessment and ocular disorders.