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Thousands of visually impaired pupils missing from government database

Thousands of school children with visual impairments are being overlooked by the government, a charity has claimed.

According to a survey by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), about 16,000 pupils with visual impairments are missing from the Department for Education's national pupil database.

The shortfall was revealed by the charity’s annual survey of visual impairment education advisory services for blind and partially sighted children in England, which found more than 25,000 under-18s are supported by visual impairment services – 16,000 more than the DfE’s estimate.

Sue Keil, national research officer at RNIB, said the incorrect estimation of the number of pupils with visual impairments could mean that the group was being overlooked in the creation of special educational needs policy.

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