Ministry issues guideline on children's eye health

The Ministry of Education along with two national agencies have issued a new guideline aimed at protecting children's eye health, emphasizing screen-time limits and adequate sleep.

According to the guideline, released this month jointly with the National Health Commission and the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration, primary school students should spend no more than 30 percent of their classroom time on electronic devices and receive at least 10 hours of sleep per day. The recommendations come in response to rising myopia rates among Chinese children and adolescents.

Government statistics indicate that more than half the country's youth are nearsighted, with myopia affecting 52.7 percent of children and adolescents, including 14.5 percent of 6-year-olds and over one-third of primary school students.

Research links the high prevalence of myopia to limited outdoor activity, heavy homework loads, extended screen time and insufficient eye care. In recent years, China has introduced various policies to address these issues, with the latest guideline building on prior efforts to mitigate vision problems among young children.

The guideline recommends two hours of daily outdoor activity, including at least one hour of physical exercise, to help reduce visual fatigue. Teachers are instructed not to teach beyond designated class times and to ensure that students take breaks and spend time looking at distant objects. Schools are also urged to improve their classroom environments, including seating and lighting, in accordance with national standards for visual health.

Schools are required to display visual acuity charts in each classroom, conduct twice-daily eye exercises and routinely monitor children's vision.

The ministry also calls for adherence to its "double reduction" policy, which aims to ease students' workloads by limiting homework and reducing reliance on extracurricular tutoring. For example, primary schoolteachers are prohibited from teaching content beyond the standard curriculum, and online class times are capped at 30 minutes with mandatory 10-minute breaks.

To further protect students' eyesight, the guideline restricts the use of digital devices in classrooms to no more than 30 percent of total instructional time. For homework, first and second grade students should have no written assignments, while assignments for older primary students are limited to one hour.

The guideline also addresses sleep, advising that primary school students get 10 hours of rest per night. Parents are encouraged to limit screen time at home, prioritize outdoor activities and work closely with schools to monitor and protect their children's vision.

The ministry emphasized the importance of preventive measures for myopia, urging local education departments to enhance health assessments, promote eye care education, and implement vision monitoring programs to reduce the rate of myopia among youth.

Xu Nuo contributed to this story.