“More than half of Indian parents surveyed were willing to purchase good quality lighting that can positively impact their child’s eyesight and performance at school.”

Indian parents are becoming increasingly worried about their children’s eyesight as the young ones are spending about twelve hours a day in school and doing homework under poor quality lighting, Philips Lighting said in a press statement.

“61% of Indian parents agreed that studying under poor quality, flickering light can damage a child’s eyesight,” the company said quoting its latest survey that was conducted across twelve countries, including India.

“Nearly half of all Indian parents worry that their child will need glasses in the future. To address this alarming and growing urban emergency of child myopia, more than half (55%) of Indian parents surveyed were willing to purchase good quality lighting that can positively impact their child’s eyesight and performance at school, in addition to improving their diet.”

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Quoting a World Health Organisation (WHO) report, the company said that the UN body “has shown that excessive near work can increase the risk of myopia and that spending more time outdoors can help,” adding that the survey “comes up a time when the WHO is predicting that one in two people will be short sighted by 2050.”

The company also said that ophthalmologists understand the gravity of the situation and are pulling out all stops to sensitise the general population to step up on their eye care quotient. It quoted Dr K S Santhan Gopal MD (AIIMS) FRCS (Edin), FRCOphth (UK), Kamala Nethralaya, Bangalore and president, All India Ophthalmology Society as saying: “There is a continued need to educate the public about eye care. As part of our commitment to the community at large in raising awareness on this issue, the All India Ophthalmological Society has developed a number of proactive community oriented programs, guidelines and resources to enhance ophthalmic education amongst the public. Towards this goal, all our 20,000-odd members are working hard to preserve and restore vision for Indians.”

Sumit Joshi, vice chairman and MD of the company’s Indian arm Philips Lighting India Ltd, said, “As Indian children are increasingly spending more time indoors under artificial lighting, concentrating on school work, it’s important that they do sounder good quality lighting that is comfortable for their eyes, to reduce any unnecessary strain.” He added: “At Philips Lighting, we understand the importance of good quality lighting, particularly when it comes to eye comfort, which is why we test all our Philips LED’s to ensure they pass our high standards for the most comfortable lighting yet.”

Academic performance and children’s stress levels are also a source of concern for Indian parents, with parents looking for practical solutions that will have a positive impact on their child’s well-being and performance academically, the company also said.