Parents in Reading Competition Awards Ceremony Reportedly Booed Other Children & Gave Thumbs-Down

Parents are supposed to be role models for their kids, but some parents probably didn’t get the memo.

At the awards ceremony of a national creative reading competition for preschoolers and primary school students, the National Chinese Creative Reading Competition 2024, some parents in the audience booed, stood up showing thumbs-down gestures, waved their hands disapprovingly, and were even accused of flipping the middle finger for up to a minute, frightening the children present.

Parents in Reading Competition Awards Ceremony Reportedly Booed Other Children & Gave Thumbs-Down

The National Chinese Creative Reading Competition 2024, organized by Popular Bookstore and co-hosted and the National Library Board, held its finals and awards ceremony on Friday afternoon (6 September) at the Woodlands Regional Library.

The finals were split into three categories: preschool, lower primary and upper primary.

A parent who attended the awards ceremony called Shin Min Daily News on Sunday (8 September) to complain about what happened during the ceremony.

She recounted that after the finals concluded and the judges announced the top five winners in the upper primary group, everything was fine, with over 200 parents and 80 children at the event. As expected, many parents were proud, recording videos of their kids.

Then, the disruption happened.

“When I got home, I saw a video in the parents’ group chat showing two women sitting in the middle of the audience, booing and giving thumbs-downs as other children went up to receive their awards. They even waved their hands dismissively.”

The caller said these two women were the mothers of a contestant from a two-person team, and their child had also won an award.

However, after their child received the prize, the women started booing the next four students who went up to collect their awards. During the group photo, they even waved their child off the stage.

Booing for a Minute, and Allegedly Flipping the Middle Finger

But that’s not all. According to the caller, her child and other parents mentioned that the two women even gave the middle finger to those on stage.

That certainly escalated fast.

The parent added that her own child was among the winners, and it was clear the children on stage were shaken. The top-ranked children looked disheartened as they left the stage.

“When we got home, my child told me he was angry and confused, and some kids were on the verge of tears, needing their parents to comfort them.”

In the video, the two women can be seen whispering to each other as the children were receiving their awards. They initially stayed seated while giving the thumbs-down, but later stood up and kept gesturing and waving.

Because some parents didn’t want to capture the women in their videos, they stood up to film, but the women’s actions were so prominent that their gestures were still recorded.

The event staff seemed unsure how to respond at that moment.

Popular Bookstore Responded

A spokesperson from Popular Bookstore confirmed that they had received complaints from a group of parents and are currently conducting a full investigation.

The spokesperson emphasized that to maintain fairness for all participants, they are taking the matter seriously and looking into the incident thoroughly.