Up to 80% of classroom learning is visual, so a child’s vision can play a critical role in how they learn and experience the world around them.
Undiagnosed vision issues can lead to difficulties in school, hinder a child's participation in activities, and affect their learning, social development, confidence, and overall wellbeing.
While it’s estimated that nearly 25% of school-age children have vision problems, children rarely notice or report vision issues on their own because they assume what they see is normal. They may not show any obvious signs that they’re having difficulty seeing, making vision issues easy for parents to miss, too.
Early detection is critical for school-aged children. Many common eye conditions are most successfully treated before age seven. The earlier a vision issue is identified, the sooner children and their families can access the support, treatment, and accommodations they need to thrive in and out of the classroom.
As part of CNIB’s Our Kids Will Thrive strategic commitment, CNIB is advocating for all Canadian children to receive a comprehensive eye exam before starting school so that potential vision issues can be identified early and children and their families can access the support, treatment, and accommodations they need to thrive in and out of the classroom.
This includes engaging provincial governments, educators, eye care providers, and families to raise awareness and improve access to comprehensive eye exams for school-age children.
We’re asking:
- Provincial governments to invest in public awareness and improve access to early childhood eye care.
- Health-care providers to include vision referrals in early-childhood care routines.
- School boards and educators to make vision health part of school readiness packages.
- Parents and caregivers to book comprehensive eye exams.
As part of our advocacy work in 2025, we engaged school boards in a back-to-school email campaign reminder encouraging families to prioritize eye exams for children.
In 2026, we held advocacy days in Saskatchewan and Ontario, calling on provincial officials to support efforts to increase early eye exams for children, and launched a “Back to School” eye exam campaign in August.
We are encouraged by the strong support from vision stakeholder partners, educators, and officials across the political spectrum, and look forward to continued collaboration as we work toward universal access to comprehensive eye exams for children across Canada.
You can support our work by signing CNIB’s Charter of Rights of Children who are Blind or Low Vision and sharing it with your network.
To inquire about CNIB’s advocacy on early eye exams for children, you can reach out to the CNIB Advocacy team at advocacy@cnib.ca.