United Kingdom, Oct. 13 -- More than 150 clinicians have called for a reduction in the amount of time children in England spend using screens at school, warning that excessive use could damage their "physical and developmental health".

GPs, paediatricians and other specialists have written to Education Secretary Lucy Powell and Health Secretary Yvette Cooper, arguing that tablets and laptops are being used without enough understanding of their long-term effects, including on children's eyesight.

The clinicians said they were prescribing glasses, hearing aids and speech therapy to children "for a problem that is unintentionally being made worse in our schools".

They claimed nearly one million children use screens during most lessons, de...