As children across the UAE prepare for the new academic year, parents are engaged in standard preparations such as purchasing uniforms, books, transportation, and stationery. However, doctors note that there is an important aspect often overlooked—the child's vision.
With the start of the 2026-27 school year in Dubai during the first week of September, the vision screening period becomes very intense. The vision guide for the 2026 school year, published by the Dubai Pediatric Clinic last month, lists headaches, eye strain, and concentration difficulties as signs requiring attention.
According to an article on the Doctors Clinic Diagnostic Center (DCDC) website, about a quarter of school-aged children suffer from unnoticed vision problems. Such issues can be mistakenly attributed to inattentiveness, laziness, or reading difficulties, especially because young children may not realize that their vision is abnormal. Parents find it difficult to determine when a common complaint, such as a headache, is related to vision and when it indicates something else.
Dr. Mamata Bostra, a pediatrician and neonatologist at International Modern Hospital Dubai, stated that uncorrected refractive errors or focusing problems can sometimes cause eye strain and headaches, particularly after prolonged near work. She advised parents to look out for signs such as strabismus, blurry or double vision, unusual close proximity to books or screens, frequent eye rubbing, reading difficulties, or headaches that consistently occur after visual tasks.
Nevertheless, she emphasized that headaches can have multiple causes and should not be automatically attributed to vision problems. A recurring pattern that parents can track is particularly useful: if a child regularly complains of headaches while reading, doing homework, or other close-up tasks, doctors believe a vision assessment may be appropriate.
Bostra noted that such headaches may require evaluation for refractive errors, as well as accommodation or binocular vision problems. At the same time, parents should consider daily factors contributing to discomfort. She recommended ensuring adequate sleep, hydration, good lighting, and regular breaks from prolonged screen or near work. Constant or recurrent headaches should also be discussed with the child's pediatrician.
Dr. Rowena Benita Sibia, a pediatric consultant at NMC Royal Hospital DIP, Dubai, and NMC Mother and Child Hospital, DIP, Dubai, similarly cautioned against assuming that every headache is caused by poor vision. She stressed the vital need to rule out other possible causes of headaches rather than assuming any headache is linked to weak vision.
Sibia advised parents to monitor accompanying symptoms, including vomiting, fever, sleep disturbances, neck stiffness, changes in behavior, or confusion, as well as sudden severe pain. She warned that if a headache appears with any of these warning signs, immediate medical attention should be sought.
For children who do not have such alarming signs, prolonged screen use can still contribute to eye strain, even if their vision is otherwise normal. Doctors recommend taking regular breaks, ensuring appropriate lighting and comfortable viewing distance, and spending time outdoors. Sibia added that the '20-20-20' rule, applicable to children as well, states that approximately every 20 minutes, one should stop near work or screen use and look into the distance, at an object across the room or outside, for at least 20 seconds.
Medical professionals emphasize that parents should not wait for the child's complaints before considering a vision check. Children can adapt to a vision problem without realizing they are seeing atypically.
Dr. Sanaa Shoker, a pediatrician at Medeor Hospital, Abu Dhabi, stated that an eye exam can detect problems ranging from focusing difficulties to eye coordination issues and early progression of myopia. She noted that early diagnosis not only alleviates symptoms but can also improve learning, classroom participation, self-confidence, and academic performance.
Shoker added that some conditions develop gradually and may not present obvious symptoms in the early stages. She stressed that even if children do not complain of vision problems, regular vision screening remains important because many children are unaware that their vision is not normal.
Ophthalmologists recommend incorporating vision checks into routine pediatric examinations, with schoolchildren being examined regularly, checking eyes every one to two years during the school year or sooner if advised by a pediatrician or required by the institution. A comprehensive eye examination is especially important if a child develops symptoms, does not undergo vision screening, experiences learning difficulties, or if there is a family history of serious eye diseases.
As children spend more time on screens and childhood myopia is rising globally, Shoker believes that scheduled eye health checks are becoming increasingly significant. Thus, the doctors' message to parents preparing their children for the new academic year is not to assume that every headache is a vision problem, but rather to recognize patterns, respond to persistent symptoms, and not ignore routine screening. Shoker concluded that 'vision plays an important role in a child's learning and development, and early detection of a potential vision problem can ultimately improve the child's overall well-being.'
