Dear parents,

Summer vacation is just around the corner! It’s a wonderful period of time for families to spend time and create valuable memories together. We’ve learned from past experiences that a good plan of vacation activities can help preventing children from worsening their eye vision.

As the saying goes, “Eyes are the window to the soul.” In recent years, short-sightedness is gradually affecting the younger generations in Taiwan. The earlier a child becomes near-sighted, the more possible it might keep declining in the future. Severe short-sightedness might cause glaucoma, cataract, and many other optical diseases. It can even bring a higher chance to lose one’s vision entirely by 60 times than usual. Therefore, children’s visual health is undoubtedly essential. Researches have shown that short-sightedness can be prevented by doing more outdoor activities in natural sunlight, as well as reducing intensive eye use including studying, writing, and watching screens  of electronic devices. It is recommended to give the eyes a rest by looking at far objects for 10 minutes, after every 30 minutes of intensive use of eyes.

For better eye care, we encourage children to engage in a variety of activities. Outdoor activities is preferable since it also helps cutting the time the kids might spend on staring at digital screens. Please ensure your children’s physical and visual safety while engaging in activities. For example, protect the kids from UV harm by wearing sunscreen, sunglasses, or caps. In addition, please see an ophthalmologist when any optical issues occur, and keep the examination reports for future observation.

Let’s work together to protection our kids from near-sightedness! We care about your children just like you do.

Sincerely,
Ministry of Education