Exam season is upon us. With the dreaded University Entrance Examination just around the corner, there’s a lot of revision going on in China these days. And in Nanjing, efforts are underway to remove some rather noisy distractions.
It’s not just those hoping to be off to college who have their heads in their books. While the University Entrance Examination will this year take place from 7-9 June, so too will the Senior High School Entrance Examination be sat by millions of teenagers, from 19-20 June.
And in order to give today’s youth the biggest possible chance at success in these all-important tests, environmental noise pollution controls are being enacted in Nanjing.
With a view to maintaining a degree of peace and quiet in students’ lives leading up to the exams, the dates of 2-9 and 15-20 June, 2021, have been declared periods of environmental noise control, reveals a circular published by the Yangtze Evening News.
During these times, construction sites near residential areas will be forbidden to carry out work that produces environmental noise pollution from 12:00 to 14:00 (the all-important midday nap), and from 22:00 to 06:00 the next day.
During the examinations themselves, all kinds noise pollution within 500 metres of an examination site shall be strictly prohibited.
In the case of key projects which are required to operate continuously, day and night, due to their production process requirements (e.g. metro construction), exemptions may be obtained.
However, such exemptions shall be on the premise of obtaining the consent of affected examination candidates and their parents. Good luck with that.
Violations of the circular can be reported by calling the ecological environment hotline on 12369.
Of course, whether attention will be paid to the new regs is anyone’s guess. Elsewhere, calls have been made persuading parents to allow more time for their children’s rest, entertainment and physical exercise.
It was Guo Linmao, a law office director in the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, who made the comments. He said on 26 June that he disagrees with the behaviour of some parents in their forcing of minors to study in after-school classes. Guo cited the public consultation process of the revised draft of the minor protection law. Therein, the overwhelming majority of opinions put forward by nearly 20,000 minors concerned burden reduction, reported Nanjing Daily.
What it all boils down to is quality of life, or perhaps study; less time in dubious classes and more concentrated periods of revision.
