"The Relay Race Is Dangerous, Isn't It?" ... 'Sports Day's Highlight' Canceled After One Parent's Complaint

"Relay Race Canceled Over Parent Complaint" Sparks Online Controversy
"Giving In to Malicious Complaints," "Abnormal": Reactions Pour In
112 Calls Over School Playground Noise Rise Fivefold in Seven Years

Controversy has erupted after reports emerged that an elementary school relay race, for which even team representatives had been selected, was canceled following a safety complaint from a parent.

An elementary school sports day in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, to help readers understand the article. Yonhap News Agency

"They'd picked the runners, but canceled it after one person said it was dangerous"

On the 2nd, a video of a conversation between an elementary school student and their father, posted on Instagram on October 31, spread across social media. In the video, the child expressed disappointment, saying, "A parent said the relay race was dangerous today, so it was canceled." When the father asked, "Hadn't they already picked everyone who was going to run?" the child replied, "Yes. I think the kids heard it from their teacher." The person who posted the video, identified as A, said, "What on earth is dangerous about a relay race? I'm a mother who worries a lot, too, but I just don't understand."

Some 20,000 people took part in a poll A posted on social media, and 99% said relay races are not dangerous. Viewers of the video responded, "Do they have to stop children from running because they might fall?" "The school is giving in to malicious complaints far too easily," and "This is the normalization of the abnormal."

A poster made by students at an elementary school in Gyeonggi-do apologizing for the inconvenience caused by their sports day. Online community.

Parent complaints surrounding school sports days have long been a burden for schools. Teachers say they face complaints from parents such as, "My child was hurt by coming in last," and, "Please put sunscreen on them." An increasing number of schools are also reluctant to hold sports days at all because teachers can be held legally responsible if an accident occurs during an event.

Previously, an online community shared a handwritten poster made by students ahead of a sports day that read, "We're sorry. Please let us play just a little." Posts have also described "mute sports days," where all students cross the finish line in a shared first place in an effort to reduce competition, or are asked to refrain from clapping and cheering.

More schools are limiting playground activities due to noise complaints

Many schools have also reduced activities on their playgrounds because of noise complaints. According to data from the Seoul and Busan metropolitan offices of education and others released last May, one in eight elementary schools in Seoul (12.4%) and more than one in three in Busan (34.7%) restrict physical activities on school grounds. A Ministry of Education survey found that 287 of the country's 6,189 elementary schools (4.6%) ban some ball games, including soccer and baseball, during lunch and recess.

Reports to the police have also risen sharply. According to data provided by the National Police Agency to the office of Cheon Ha-ram, a Reform Party lawmaker, the number of 112 calls about noise from school playground events such as sports days rose fivefold, from 70 in 2018 to 350 last year. In 345 of those cases (98.6%), a patrol car was actually dispatched to the school. In an earlier interview with the Segye Ilbo, a middle school principal in Seoul said, "Rather than there being several complainants, it's more often one person repeatedly calling 112."

Last May, the National Police Agency instructed police agencies across the country to "avoid dispatching officers as much as possible in response to simple noise complaints about elementary, middle, and high school sports days." In cases involving simple complaints, officers do not go to the scene; instead, they explain the process to the complainant over the phone and then close the case. Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin also wrote on social media, "We ask for your generous understanding regarding noise from sports days and similar events so that our children can run and play freely and grow into healthy citizens."

Similar issues have arisen overseas. In 2011, the German government approved a bill to amend the law so that children's sounds from places such as daycare centers and playgrounds would not, in principle, be considered environmentally harmful noise. At the time, German Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen said, "With legislation that gives children's sounds a special status, we are sending a clear signal in favor of a child-friendly society."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.