Sankara College of Optometry receives NAAC Accreditation

Bangalore, July 19, 2023: The Sankara College of Optometry, part of the Sankara Eye Foundation, has received accreditation from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). The Optometry College is one of the few independent institutions in the country to have received this recognition. NAAC seeks to enhance students’ development in higher education and the College’s quality of education through accreditation.

The College, affiliated to Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), is among the top-rated colleges of Optometry in India, and has students from Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Middle East, apart from India itself. Optometrists are trained to treat, manage and correct disorders and diseases of the visual system, the eye and its associated structures.

Commenting on the NAAC accreditation, Prof. Aditya Goyal, Principal, Sankara College of Optometry said: “We feel extremely honoured and humbled to be among one of the first few optometry institutions to have received this accreditation. Our stellar academic records and the dedication of the faculty members have been fundamental to the success of this course. Our expertise in teaching combined with world-class facilities will further help us in achieving newer heights in imparting quality optometric education and training, particularly to deserving students. We will continue our commitment to social equity and elimination of blindness through education, capacity building and research”.

Optometrists are trained both in academics and clinical aspects who provide comprehensive eye and vision care, which includes refraction and dispensing, detection/diagnosis and co-management of disease in the eye and rehabilitation of the visual system.  Optometrists also offer speciality advice and treatment to patients having problems of binocular vision, low vision or those with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia and contact lenses. Pursuing Optometry is an attractive career option, especially for students with good skills in ophthalmic techniques. An optometrist can work as an independent clinical practitioner, placed in manufacturing industry, an entrepreneur,  a clinician in eye hospitals or be placed as a research scholar in research and development, and also as academician in teaching institutions.

The Sankara Eye Foundation, which supports the College, provides world-class eye care with a social impact. The Foundation is passionate about eye care and is motivated by the constant awareness that millions of visually handicapped people are seeking a lifeline. The 13 hospitals under the Foundation provide high-quality, high-volume eye care to everyone irrespective of their socio-economic status and have so far performed over 2.3 million free eye surgeries and screened over 5.9 Million people covering 114 districts, and 19804 villages in the country.