Background: The problem of visual impairment among school children is so prevalent that it greatly reduces children's ability to study and attend classes and finally leads to the formation of grave social consequences. As it is seen from hospital reports, quite a considerable number of school children are suffering from some form of refractive errors, which could be easily corrected by the application of appropriate glasses.


Objectives: To determine the prevalence of visual impairment due to refractive errors in pre-school and school children aged 5 to 15 years in two towns of northwestern Ethiopia and, to investigate the influence of some factors on the problem of low vision due to refractive errors.


Design: The study was a cross-sectional survey.


Methods: One thousand one hundred thirty four pre-school and school children participated in the study. Level of visual acuity - visual acuity of