CAMARINES Sur Representative Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr. has filed a measure that seeks to help children with eye problems.

House Bill 9101 or the proposed Children’s Vision Improvement and Learning Readiness aims to establish a grant program for the comprehensive eye examinations of children.

Villafuerte said 80 percent of what children learn is acquired through the visual processing of information.

He added that visual impairment in children is associated with developmental delays and the need for special education, vocational and social services.

“At least 20 percent of children with learning disabilities have been found to have prominent visual information processing problems,” the lawmaker said in his explonatory note.

House Bill 9101 mandates the Department of Health to form a grant for comprehensive eye examinations for children identified or considered high risk of vision impairment, with priority given to school-based programs for children who are under the age of nine.

It also mandates the provision of subsequent treatment or services necessary to correct vision problems and development and dissemination to parents, teachers, healthcare practitioners and the public, and educational materials on recognizing signs of visual impairment in children.