Donate To Transform A Girl Into
A Qualified Optometrist Through Our
‘Football To Eyeball’ Program
Help us support a girl child’s education, training and living.
To know in detail about the ‘Football to Eyeball’ program and the cost involved
in educating and developing a girl, please Click Here
The unique movement of empowering underprivileged rural girls to drive blindness bradication efforts
One of the few sports based programmes in the world, which uses football as an ice breaker to negotiate opportunities for young underprivileged rural girls, with a guaranteed job at the end of it. Through this programme young girls between the age of 12-16 are nurtured by Akhand Jyoti to aspire to become a professional footballer or an optometrist or both. This signature programme is instrumental in targeting gender-based inequalities, exploitation, child marriage, all of which afflict girls in a patriarchal society like Bihar. It provides equal opportunities to these girls offering them a better way of lfie.
The programme works on a hub and spoke model wherein football plays a crucial role as an instrument of change. The initiative works on the principle of “Teach football to the girls and draw them out of their homes.”
Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital’s base centre at Mastichak village in the Saran district of Bihar – a 350 bed speciality eye hospital works as a hub for this programme. The spokes are the girls living in most deprived areas of the state. Football is introduced as a sport to these girls by periodic planned intervention under the supervision of a professional instructor. Interested girls are selected to join full time and reside at the hostel facilities within the base hospital centre.
The entire cost of education, training, and living is undertaken by Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital with an objective to create these girls as a role model for future social impact.
Women’s football in India does not offer long term career opportunities. However, a girl selected for the national team (by the age of 17) is entitled to a government job under the sports quota. The programme, therefore, offers the girls to pursue another opportunity. Along with their football training the girls are tutored in regular subjects such as English and Science, so that after passing standard 12, they may appear for an entrance examination to enroll into a 3-year Diploma in Ophthalmic Techniques (DOT) course. After passing the DOT course the girls are employed back at Akhand Jyoti hospitals and centres as qualified optometrists to drive the blindness eradication efforts. As qualified optometrists these girls earn an average of 6 times more than what their parents usually earn. This significantly increases opportunities in livelihood and improves gender parity in the society.
Cost Breakup
| Expense Head | Cost per girl per annum (INR) |
|---|---|
| Remuneration to Teachers and Others | ₹ 24,600 |
| Education and Training Expenses | ₹ 34,000 |
| Food and Medical Expenses | ₹ 35,200 |
| Utilities and Services Expenses | ₹ 6,200 |
| Total Average Annual Cost | ₹ 1,00,000 |
It takes INR 1,00,000 per year per girl for a period of 5 years to transform her into a qualified optometrist.
There is no better way to thank God for your sight than by giving a helping hand to someone in the dark
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