India, Oct. 20 -- Excessive noise near schools disrupts students' learning and health, with studies linking it to higher failure rates during exams.

Experts recommend soundproofing classrooms, better building designs, and comprehensive noise assessments.

UNICEF calls for coordinated actions, including traffic-calming measures and retrofitting schools, to protect children from environmental noise hazards.

Under India's Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, an area of 100 m around an educational institution may be declared a silence zone, with noise limits of 50 decibels during the day and 40 decibels at night. But can such silence zones actually protect schoolchildren from noise?

Areas surrounding school often do not me...