Event tackles myopia among students

China Daily

27th May 2021

Event tackles myopia among students

By Zhou Wenting

In September, Yuan Sihui, a fifth-grade primary school student in Yunnan province, discovered she could no longer see words on the classroom blackboard clearly.

She did not know how badly her sight had been affected until a recent checkup found that she had 300 degrees of myopia－a medium level－in both eyes.

However, rather than becoming depressed about her sight, Yuan, the top performer in her class, was delighted when she was handed a pair of glasses soon after a thorough eye examination.

She said she was excited to learn that her eyes were going to be examined, as she had been unable to find a sufficiently qualified professional with whom to discuss the problems with her vision.

"I once told my mother I was finding it hard to read with the dim bedside light," said the 11-year-old, who attends Shuanglong Primary School in Shidian county, Baoshan city, and spends two hours reading before going to sleep every night.

She dreams of going abroad for university studies and returning to Shidian to help local children with better healthcare and diets, and to cope with natural disasters.

Yuan was one of some 4,000 primary and middle school students from the county who were found to have potential eyesight problems.

In the middle of last month, half of the students attended a weeklong charity event that included eye health and optometry checkups. The examinations resulted in some 1,500 students receiving free glasses.

The event was launched by the Shanghai Essilor Vision Foundation and Education in Sight, an NGO in Yunnan.

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202106/02/WS60b6c588a31024ad0bac2eb7.html