In 1958, two schools of optometry were established, one at Gandhi Eye Hospital, Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh and the other at Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, under the second five-year plan by Director General of Health Services of Government of India.
These schools offered diplomas in optometry courses of two years duration validated by state medical faculties.
Subsequently, four more schools were opened across India at Sitapur Eye Hospital, Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh, Chennai (formerly Madras) in Tamil Nadu, Bengalooru (formerly Bangalore) in Karnataka, and Regional Institute of Ophthalmology (Govt medical college), Thiruvananthapuram (formerly Trivandrum) in Kerala.
The Elite School of Optometry (ESO) was established in 1985 at Chennai and was the first to offer a four-year degree course.
This was followed by All India institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and in Kerala, Regional Institute of Ophthalmology (Govt Medical college), Thiruvananthapuram (formerly Trivandrum) is the first government colleges to offer a bachelor's degree in optometry in 2010; were considered as the best in excellence from Govt.
The degree is not recognised by the General Optical Council (GOC) in the United Kingdom.
[72] 4 Year bachelor's degrees including clinical optometry School of Ophthalmic Technology, established in 1983 by the Ministry of Health at National Eye Hospital Colombo with the initiation of Dr. C E Parker III., honours the diploma in ophthalmic technology.
However, the government of Sri Lanka does not recognize optometry as a profession and has no regulations to date.
In 2010, Alneelain University Eye Hospital was established as part of FOVS to expand training capacity and to serve community.