Mon, Jul 25, 2022 page3

• Poor vision on the rise among children

  REMOTE-LEARNING EFFECT: Last year’s uptick in elementary-school students with poor vision reversed an eight-year trend and comes after other countries also posted increases

  • By Lin Hui-chin and Liu Tzu-hsuan / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  The share of elementary-school students with poor vision has grown over the past two academic years after an eight-year decline, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has said.

  Ministry data showed that 44.6 percent of elementary-school students last year had poor vision, defined as having visual acuity below 0.9 in at least one eye.

  The share was 44.35 percent in the 2019-2020 academic year, which ended a decline since 2011-2012, when 50.01 percent of elementary-school students had poor vision.

  

  An elementary-school student does his homework in Taipei in an undated photograph.

  Photo: Taipei Times, file photo

  Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital ophthalmologist Wu Pei-chang (吳佩昌), who leads the school children’s vision health program at the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) and the K-12 Education Administration, said lifestyle changes during the COVID-19 pandemic are the major cause of the rise.

  Due to the pandemic, many schools transitioned to distance learning, requiring students to take online classes, he said, adding that many students also spent more time online for entertainment than before the pandemic emerged in early 2020.

  Similar problems have been reported in the US, Singapore and China, where one province recorded that 25 percent of elementary-school students were nearsighted after a lockdown, up from 5 percent before the COVID-19 measure was implemented.

  The situation in Taiwan is not as severe as in other countries, but should be taken seriously, he said.

  He said students should spend more time outdoors during the summer vacation and get out of the classrooms every interval after the new semester starts.

  The chance of becoming nearsighted halves if one spends at least 11 hours outdoors per week, which can also prevent other eye conditions, he said.

  Meanwhile, the share of nearsighted students increases as age increases, with 28.13 percent of first-graders last year having poor vision, compared with 77.56 percent of ninth-graders, ministry data showed.

  The share of nearsighted students in Taiwan has surpassed that of Japan, the data showed.

  In Taiwan, 26.2 percent of first-graders and 82.4 percent of twelfth-graders last year had poor vision, while in Japan, 24.2 percent of first-graders and 64.4 percent of twelfth-graders had poor vision, it showed.

  The margin between the two countries spreading from about 2 percentage points among first-graders to more than 18 percentage points among twelfth-graders showed that Taiwan should take the issue more seriously, the HPA said.

  Tri-Service General Hospital Ophthalmology Department director Lu Da-wen (呂大文) said that people with a visual acuity of minus-5 or lower are considered heavily nearsighted.

  The condition can lead to early-onset cataracts, macular degeneration, glaucoma and retinal detachment, Lu said.

  HPA Director-General Wu Chao-chun (吳昭軍) said that measures should be taken to protect the eyesight of children of all ages, including vision and dilated fundus exams once or twice a year from age three or four.

  Light farsightedness is normal and desirable among small children, Wu said, likening it to “savings in their vision bank.”

  Preschool children should have visual acuity of 1 to 2, kindergarteners should have an acuity of 1.5 to 2, first and second-graders should have an acuity of 1 and third to six-graders should have at least 0.5, he said, adding that with these “savings,” children can prevent or delay the onset of nearsightedness.

  Wearing glasses is a corrective measure, but medical treatment is needed to control the prescription from increasing, he said.
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