Increased use of tablets and laptops in the classroom has led to a growing number of children with poor eyesight, two New Taipei City councilors said on Monday, urging that ophthalmologists be dispatched to every school.
Fourty-seven percent of the city’s elementary-school students and 76 percent of its junior-high students have poor, uncorrected vision, Democratic Progressive Party New Taipei City councilors Lee Yu-hsiang (李宇翔) and Huang Shu-chun (黃淑君) said.
“Digital learning is good, and we should promote the use of technology in the classroom, but more attention should be given to children’s eyesight,” Li said, adding that the issue could be addressed by putting ophthalmologists in schools to offer regular vision tests and address students’ eyesight concerns.
Photo: CNA
Huang urged the city’s departments of health and education to collaborate on developing an eye care policy, increase the budget for students’ eye care and increase the number of vision tests in public schools.
Doing so could help track and manage high-risk and severe myopia cases, she said.
Schoolchildren in Hong Kong used tablets and laptops for an average of seven hours per day during the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused cases of myopia among children in the territory to increase 2.5-fold, Huang said, citing data from a special report by the Legislative Yuan.
A doctor surnamed Tsai (蔡) said that the average age of people consulting eye doctors at clinics in New Taipei City for myopia was getting younger.
New Taipei City Education Department Commissioner Chang Ming-wen (張明文) said the city invests NT$20 million (US$650,851) annually on schoolchildren’s eye care.
Since the 2007 school year, the health and education departments have cooperated to provide free annual eye exams for students from kindergarten age to sixth grade, implemented a management program for students at high risk for myopia and implemented “relevant eye protection measures,” he said.
“For example, department regulations stipulate that each class should spend no more than 20 to 25 minutes using digital devices with screens,” he said.
The increase in myopia cases among elementary-school students in New Taipei City during the pandemic was also lower than in other parts of the country, at 0.14 percent compared with an average of 0.52 percent elsewhere, he said.
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