HE WALKED up the grandstand of Choa Chu Kang Stadium looking for his mother, but could not find her.

It was the 50th National Inter-Primary Schools Track and Field Championships and the last time he was representing his primary school in the meet.

He had trained a whole year for it.

Syahidul Matin, 12, had just been ousted from the preliminary round of the triple-jump event for DDivision and was looking for comfort from his mother.

'I felt very sad. I felt like I was left there all alone,' said the Primary 6 student from StStephen's School. 'Nobody was there to comfort me.'

It was not that his mother did not care.

Outside, at the entrance to the stadium, his mother, Madam Siti Alawiya, was desperately negotiating with the organising committee at the registration booth.

Another parent who was inside the stadium had told her that her son was looking for her.

Teacher needed

But an official insisted that she had to 'call the teacher' personally to sign her in.

Madam Siti's name, it seemed, was not on the school's contact-tracing list. In other words, she was not registered to go into the stadium.

This year's competition saw 2,373 athletes from 94 primary schools come together over 11 days, from 8to 22Jul.

To control the spread of InfluenzaA(H1N1), the organising committee had put in place precautionary measures.

One of these was to allow only parents who had been registered by their children's schools into the stadium.

Those who wished to attend had to inform their child's school, and the teachers would decide who would get to go.

Several parents told The New Paper that they were told that only two parents per school were allowed in.

They added that they were informed of these measures on the day the championships started.

Desperate to see her son compete, Madam Siti had earlier sneaked into the stadium, not once but twice.

The first time, she was caught on the track and asked to leave by a teacher.

The second time, she successfully sat at the grandstand for 'a good half an hour' watching her son compete in the triple-jump event before the same teacher spotted her.

Again, she was asked to leave.

She said that an official accompanied her to the carpark to ensure that she left. That was when she received a call from her friend telling her that her son needed her.

Emotional

She ended up waiting for him at the gate, outside the stadium. When he eventually came out, he was so overwhelmed by emotion that he ran to embrace his mother.

'I could see him only outside the stadium and could not be there for my son when he broke down. How would I feel as a parent?

'Whenever he competed, my husband and I would be there for him,' said the 38-year-old housewife.

Another parent, who wanted to be known only as Mr Abdul, said that he took leave to watch his Primary 6 son compete in the 300m and 4x300m races.

Said the 54-year-old, who is self-employed: 'The stadium is empty. It doesn't make sense that parents are not allowed in.'

He said that his wife called his son's school but was told that the two spots for parents from the school had been taken up.

He claimed he was not informed about the regulation beforehand and was turned away only when he and his wife showed up yesterday morning.

'How can Singaporeans be expected to support the Youth Olympic Games, if we can't even support our own kids?' he said.

Mr Abdul argued with the organisers for about 15 minutes and eventually got in.

The head of the competition's organising committee, Mrs Toh Boon Keng, the principal of Yio Chu Kang Primary School, was seen speaking to him when The New Paper went to the stadium yesterday.

She told The New Paper: 'We are flexible; we allow teachers to sign parents in. We are dealing with children below 12, so we have to take more precautions to contain the spread of H1N1.

'We sent a circular to teachers, instructing them to inform parents on the regulation.'

She added that the committee was just following guidelines provided by the Ministry of Education.

She said that she sent out the circular to the schools early but could not recall the exact date. Most parents, she added, got the circular.

A parent who got into the stadium, MrsRosalind Ong, a housewife in her 40s, said that she was aware of the 'two parents per school' rule.

She claimed that parents had to help out at the event if they wanted to attend.

Too late

At about 4pm yesterday afternoon, Madam Siti told The New Paper that she received an SMS from another parent, who had received an SMS from her son's school.

It read: 'Dear parents, latest update. Your voices prevailed. All parents are now allowed to attend. You need to get (your) temp(erature) taken at the entrance.'

Said Madam Siti: 'It is too late. Some of the students have only one event, like my son, and we've missed it.'

This article was first published in The New Paper