About 300 elementary schools nationwide have banned soccer, baseball and similar sports outside instructional hours, including at lunch. With safety concerns and parental complaints mounting, the sight of children running around the playground with classmates at lunchtime is becoming less common. On April 21, Rep. Cheon Haram’s office in the Reform New Party released data obtained from the Ministry of Education and local education offices titled “Nationwide Elementary School Sports Activity Ban Status.” The data show that 312 of the country’s 6,189 elementary schools — 5.04% — prohibit soccer and baseball outside class time.
By region, Busan had the highest share: 105 of 303 schools (34.65%) have such bans. In Seoul, 101 of 605 schools (16.69%) prohibit soccer and baseball outside instructional hours.
Authorities cited safety incidents and parental complaints as the primary reasons for the bans. Because liability after an accident is unclear and parental complaints have continued, many schools are proactively restricting activities. Some parents have also complained that students who are not good at soccer can feel excluded or deprived.
School sports days have also drawn complaints. On April 13, during a parliamentary question session, Rep. Cheon told Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Ho-jung that noise complaints about sports days rose from 77 in 2018 to 350, adding that teachers reported patrol cars arriving during events and startling children.
“These complaints must be tolerated to some extent, and even if police need to respond, they should wait until after the event,” he said, adding that officials should be prepared to challenge complaints that are excessive.
Rep. Cheon also urged Education Minister Choi Gyo-jin to speak out against blanket bans on soccer at lunch or after school. “It’s excessive to tell elementary students to do nothing because of accidents, risks and complaints. The minister should say clearly that this must stop,” he said.
