Palakkad: The 54th state school youth festival got off to a grand opening in the historic town of Palakkad here on Sunday. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who appeared through video conferencing, declared the event open at the inaugural function on Sunday evening. He extended his wishes to the students participating in the event and called for a healthy competition between them.
Cine artist Balachandra Menon was the chief guest while Education minister P.K. Abdu Rabb, Cultural minister K.C. Joseph and Tourism minister AP Anil Kumar were among those who graced the inaugural ceremony. The official ceremony began with a team of 54 singers rendering a song mélange combined with a fusion dance of young artistes.
Earlier in the morning, DPI Biju Prabhakar hoisted the flag at the main venue, marking the formal opening of the events. This was followed by a colourful procession in the afternoon, in which about 6,000 students from various schools in the district participated.
The procession, flagged off at the Government Victoria College, featured dancers, scouts and bands and various art forms and it took more than two hours for the procession to reach the main venue of the festival, the Indira Gandhi stadium.
Cultural minister K.C. Joseph lighting the lamp during the inaugural ceremony of the 54th state school youth festival. Palakkad muncipal chairman Abdul Khudoos, filim personality Balachandra Menon, N. Shamsudheen MLA , ministers A.P. Anil Kumar, P.K. Abdu Rabb, MLA M. Chandran, M.B. Rajesh MP, MLA’s V. Chenthamarakshan, Shafi Parambil, A.K. Balan and M. Hamsa are also seen.
The procession featured nearly 50 floats that recreated moments from the history of the land, its rich cultural heritage while keeping in touch with contemporary life. There were also presentations of various martial arts and folk art forms unique to the region.
By 5pm, the main venue was a blaze of colours and sounds as students who took part in the procession and their teachers began occupying the seats inside.
Though the organizers earlier claimed to ensure the strict adhering to the time schedule, the first event at the main venue began with a delay of two hours. However, it was a full house at the venue to watch the Mohiniyattam performance- considered to be a crowd-puller event.
Next: 10-member panel to upgrade fest manual
10-member panel to upgrade fest manual
Palakkad: In a major step, the education department has proposed a complete revamp of the manual for the state school youth festival from next year.
“This is for the last time that we are following the existing manual. From next year onwards, it will be a new festival based on a new manual”, declared education minister P.K. Abdu Rabb, here on Sunday.
According to officials, a 10-member committee comprising experts in various art forms has been deployed to observe the week-long event that opened here on Sunday.
The team will recommend suggestions on the conduct of the festival to turn it more professional next year. The move is aimed at curtailing the trend of appeals flooding the festival and giving financial support to selected students for pursuing art education, they pointed out.
Meanwhile, the education department has put the 700-odd judges for the festival under surveilence of the vigilance wing and the shadow police. Further, the intelligence wing has also formed a special team to monitor the judges.
Official sources said the intelligence wing has already prepared a list of judges who allegedly attempted to fix the results and submitted it to the ADGP (vigilance) to take action.
According to officials, monitoring included checking their phone calls, their movements and interaction with others and most importantly their activities on the day of the competition.
Next: Now, follow the fest on your smart phone
Now, follow the fest on your smart phone
Hiran Unnikrishnan | DC
Palakkad: It appears the organizers of state school youth festival are determined to keep the event in tune with the digital age. This time, a freely downloadable Android App is being presented to make it possible for people to follow the mammoth art event from start to finish.
In a unique initiative, the IT @ School in association with Technocuz, a ThiruÂvananthapuram based software company, has developed a dedicated Android App School Kalolsavam that will enable the users to know about the event, its venues, schedules and results of the competitions etc.
The mobile-phone based application can also be used to track the online links to the live web- casting of events direct from the venues. “The application is being developed with a view to help people get real-time information and plan their visit to the venues accordingly”, Abdul Hakeem, Chairman of the festival publicity committee.
The home screen of the app will be automatically updated to include the most relevant information while it will also encompass features like updates on the progress of events at each of the venues and number of contestants, among many others. The new application has been listed in the Google Play Store and is available from January 18th onwards.
Meanwhile, steps have been taken to webcast the competitions live through the official website of the festivalwww.schoolkalolsavam.in. “Along with live streaming, updates will be given on the status of each of the competition items so as to end the inordinate wait for contestants and their guardians at the back stage”, said Vipin Esthen, an official with the festival IT wing.
Further, the organizers have also opened Facebook pages for the event, Kalolsavam Palakkad and School kalolsavam, which are already abuzz with festival-related discussions. “The page will be used to brief the results and photos from each of the day'', they added.
