School Sports Days and Festivals Dimmed by Noise Complaints

[Anchor]

Schools are currently in the midst of holding sports days and festivals, where students create lasting memories. However, as complaints regarding children's cheers being too loud increase, students are increasingly finding themselves walking on eggshells around local residents even before their events begin.

Reporter Jeong Banseok has more.

[Reporter]

A middle school in Incheon was preparing for a festival to be held together with local residents.

After putting up posters around the neighborhood asking for prior understanding regarding potential noise, a complaint was filed with the Office of Education.

The complaint claimed that residents had suffered noise damage in the past and asked who had authorized the use of the school playground.

Most of the 50 posters put up were torn down by someone.

[Kim Mo-si / Convenience Store Owner Near the School: The school asked if they could put up flyers here, and I said go ahead. Two days later, they were gone. People must have known there was a school here when they moved in, and I think it is wrong not to be able to understand just those two hours a year.]

Although the school said it would turn the stage away from the residential area, a second complaint was filed asking whether a noise impact assessment had been conducted.

The festival was held with much difficulty, and the school measured noise levels every 30 minutes, trying to keep them below 60 decibels.

[Sung Ki-shin / Principal, Incheon Dongam Middle School: The students prepared so hard, and it makes no sense that a single complaint could prevent these students from presenting what they have practiced and prepared for.]

Police reports related to school playground noise, such as sports days, reached 350 cases last year, a fivefold increase over seven years.

Some elementary school students even have to apologize to nearby residents,

[An Elementary School Last Year (Source: Instagram super_tiger_): We are sorry! Please let us play a little today!]

while some schools send out official cooperation notices in advance.

[Kim Yong-sun / Parent, Seoul Seobingo Elementary School: They talk about how it is a pity for friends who cannot have sports days. They say they love this school so much and are glad they can have a sports day...]

[Yeom Yul / Student, Seoul Seobingo Elementary School: When adults were young, they played happily with friends and made memories during sports days like this. I wonder if they could let us children experience that as well...]

Under current law, the voices and cheers of children do not qualify as "noise," and police are refraining from dispatching officers to reports regarding sports day noise.

While excessive use of loudspeakers during festivals may cause inconvenience in some cases,

a social consensus from the local community seems necessary so that students can build their memories.

(Camera: Shin Jin-soo | Video Editing: Yoon Tae-ho | VJ: Shin So-young | Design: Kang Yoon-jung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.