Wang Ningli, CPPCC member and director of Department of Ophthalmology, Beijing Tongren Hospital: 

In 2018, under the guidance of the CPC Central Committee, China’s eight government departments jointly issued a plan to tackle and prevent myopia among children and young students. Two keywords are highlighted in the plan: national strategy and collective action by society as a whole. In the past, preventing myopia was considered to be the responsibility of schools or government departments. Today, the struggle has become part of a national strategy that requires all of society to take action.

The plan stresses the need for students to avoid placing excessive burdens on their eyes. But if this school has taken actions accordingly, but that school fails to do so, or if action is taken only within school and is not followed up at home, then measures will be ineffective in preventing myopia. Multiple measures are therefore required, with government departments working in synergy to achieve effective myopia control.