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Current evidence implicates educational pressures and reduced outdoor time as major causes of myopia. This paper examines the ongoing battle against the myopia epidemic in East Asia, including its cultural offshoots such as Singapore, where over 80% of young adults are myopic. East Asian societies share deeply rooted Confucian values that attach great importance to education and familial obligations, with heavy parental investment in education and the perception that academic excellence reflects filial piety. Coupled with a strong emphasis on standardised test results, East Asian children face intense educational pressures from a young age. Existing education-based myopia prevention strategies focus either on top-down school reforms to promote more outdoor time for students during school hours or on bottom-up awareness initiatives encouraging lifestyle changes. However, the entrenched Confucian worldview suggests that more extensive top-down reforms aimed at reducing competition in education, combined with widespread bottom-up awareness initiatives targeting the public-particularly parents, given their active involvement in children's education outside of school-may be required to truly turn the tide on myopia., Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflict of interest: The author declares no conflict of interest., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

While there has been extensive research exploring the quality of caregiver–child interactions in programmes for preschool children, comparatively less international research has explored the nature of caregiver–child interactions in centre-based infant-care programmes. Nine caregivers in six Singapore infant-care settings were observed and interviewed in this study to explore the qualitative nature of caregiver–child interactions and the caregivers' talk about the education and care of infants. Some of the caregivers expressed beliefs that infants learn through quality interactions. However, not all caregivers were observed to provide interactions, especially during routine care. Some caregivers held the view that their primary role was providing physical care rather than education. Such differences in views and practices could have been influenced by the cultural backgrounds of individual caregivers. Implications for professional development of infant caregivers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]