SPEECH BY RADM (NS) TEO CHEE HEAN, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND 2^ND MINISTER FOR DEFENCE AT THE INAUGURAL CHERISH AWARD PRESENTATION CEREMONY ON FRIDAY, 24^TH AUGUST 2001 AT THE GRAND HYATT SINGAPORE AT 10.10AM

Mr Moses Lee, Permanent Secretary (Health)

Mr Wong Yew Meng, Chairman, Health Promotion Board

Dr Lam Sian Lian, CEO, Health Promotion Board

Distinguished Guests

Principals

Ladies and Gentlemen

1 Last year, I officiated at the launch of the CHERISH Award, an acronym for CHampioning Efforts Resulting in Improved School Health. Today, it is my pleasure to present the CHERISH Awards at this inaugural ceremony to recognise schools dedicated to promoting health.

The Cherish Award

2 To recap, the CHERISH Award, is an annual award given out by the Ministry of Health to recognise our schools for their efforts in promoting and implementing health-related policies and practices.

3 Health promotion in our schools is no longer just about conducting health education lessons in the classroom. Schools are encouraged to create an overall environment which is healthy and conducive for learning and teaching. This is in line with the World Health Organisation's Health Promoting Schools concept that many countries have adopted, signifying the importance of the school in promoting health and holistic development.

4 I am pleased to note that our schools which were assessed for the inaugural CHERISH Award demonstrated good, innovative and well-balanced practices in various areas of school health promotion.

School ethos, culture and organisation

5 The school ethos, culture and organisation are vital aspects of health promotion in school. How the school creates a conducive and healthy environment to meet the needs of students and staff is important.

6 Most schools have well-developed policies and programmes to promote exercise and healthy eating as a result of the Trim And Fit (or TAF) programme. Exercise and physical activity have become part of the culture in many schools. For example, teachers in Gan Eng Seng participate in mass exercise and jogathons. Their teachers also exercise with students to promote healthy living. Schools are also promoting healthy eating. Meridien Primary and St Anthony's Canossian Primary consciously encourage their students to eat more fruits and vegetables. All schools have canteen committees to work closely with canteen vendors to ensure a healthier menu for all.

7 The emotional needs of students and staff are not forgotten. There is provision of basic counselling services. Among the gold award winners, strong pastoral care programmes are in place with good referral systems for counselling. Raffles Institution, for example, has extended its programmes to its boarding school.

Support from School Health Service

8 Overall, all participating schools for the CHERISH Award have met the basic requirements of health promoting schools. The School Health Service will continue to support and assist all schools to develop into Health Promoting Schools.

9 Based on this year's evaluation, the School Health Service will publish a book on good practices to share with schools and will also be working with participating schools to help them strengthen their programmes.

10 For school health promotion to be effective, we need schools to sustain their efforts made in promoting good health. The Ministry of Health has thus decided to present a sustained achievement award for CHERISH to schools that obtain gold CHERISH awards for three consecutive years.

Launch of National Myopia Prevention Programme

11 I would like to take the opportunity today, to address a growing concern - the increasing rate of myopia among our students. Statistics from the School Health Service show that in 1990, 20% of our primary one pupils and 55% of our primary six students had poor eyesight. The figures have risen to 33% of our primary one pupils and 65% of our primary six students in 2000.

12 Over the past four years, the rate of myopia among young Singaporean males who reported for National Service was between 60 and 64 per cent. That is 2 out of every 3 national servicemen.

13 Myopia is the leading eye disease in Singapore, with a prevalence rate among the highest in the world. The rate of myopia in our adults is 1½ to 2½ times that of countries like the USA and Australia. More importantly, the prevalence of myopia has increased rapidly among our school children and large numbers of children are becoming myopic at a younger age.

14 To many people, myopia is merely an inconvenience in that one has to use spectacles. However, undetected myopia before the age of 6 years, can lead to amblyopia or "lazy eye". This can lead to a loss of vision in the affected eye, which means that the child can become functionally blind in that eye. In older youths and adults, severe myopia can result in complications such as retinal detachment, macular degeneration¹ , glaucoma² and cataracts³ . All these conditions have a great impact on vision and can lead to blindness.

15 The increasing incidence of myopia is not as straightforward an issue to tackle as obesity where the cause and solutions are easily identified and a systematic programme like TAF can be successfully implemented. Although our doctors have been studying myopia for a number of years, how and why myopia develops is still not fully understood. But studies have shown that both genetic and environmental factors are involved. Besides heredity, current data strongly implicates "near-work" as a major factor. "Near-work" refers to activities such as reading, writing or the use of the computer. Hence, it is reasonable to deduce that the increase in myopia in the population may be curtailed to a certain extent by controlling the environmental factors related to "near-work".

16 The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education have therefore decided to launch the National Myopia Prevention Programme spearheaded by the Health Promotion Board. The aim of this programme is to prevent the onset and rapid progression of myopia⁴ among children at the pre-primary and primary school levels. The Health Promotion Board plans to adopt a multi-pronged approach that includes the following strategies:

17 First, the Board will send teams to kindergartens and childcare centres to conduct vision screening for the early detection of myopia.

18 Second, the current annual vision screening programmes in all our schools will be enhanced by regular and close follow-up by the Board.

19 Third, a media programme will be targeted at all Singaporeans, especially those parents with young children. The main message will be to take short "vision breaks" of about 3-5 minutes after every 30 to 40 minutes of continuous "near-work".

20 Fourth, the Board will work closely with the Ministry of Education to promote good vision care in schools. The Ministry of Education already has technical guidelines for appropriate lighting and furniture in schools. The specifications in these guidelines have been incorporated into our new schools as well as those under PRIME, our school upgrading programme. Schools will be encouraged to ask their students to take vision breaks from long periods of continuous "near-work". For example, children should look at distant objects, or look out of the window if they are at home or in the classroom.

21 Fifth, the Ministry of Health will establish a national registry for myopia to improve the monitoring of children with myopia. The registry will also provide valuable data for research on myopia in Singapore.

22 I hope that the enhanced programmes will be able to slow down or stop the steady increase in the incidence of myopia among our students. With further research, I hope that our doctors will gain a better understanding of how myopia develops and will be able to improve on this Myopia Prevention Programme so that we can reverse the trend over a number of years.

23 I hope all schools will actively participate in this Myopia Prevention Programme as part of their health promotion efforts. The schools' activities in the programme will be part of the assessment for the CHERISH Award in the coming years.

Conclusion

24 In conclusion, I would like to congratulate all participating schools for their excellent performance this year for the CHERISH Award and I hope that more schools will take part and strive towards attaining Health Promoting School status in the coming years.