Kochi/Thrissur/Thiruvananthapuram: Thrissur is set to host the first State CBSE Youth Festival from today to November 22 and the organisers said the arrangements to host the event had been completed.
It is for the first time that both the CBSE Management Association and Confederation of Kerala Sahodaya Complexes are jointly organising a state-level fest. The winners of the state youth festival will go to the national CBSE youth festival to be held for the first time in New Delhi.
The main venue of the fest is Devamatha CMI Public School at Patturaickal in Thrissur and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will inaugurate the fest at 6 p.m. on Thursday at the school.
There will be 25 stages on which competitions will be held for 300 different events. Competitions will be held at Paramekkavu Vidaya Mandir, Town Hall and Nalinam Auditorium in Patturaickal.
Ms Indira Rajan, general secretary of Kerala CBSE School Managements Association, said that nearly 6,000 students from 1,360 CBSE schools in the state would take part in the four-day-long fest.
“We are trying our level best to get certificates for the winners at the event from the CBSE and both the organisations of the CBSE schools came together to hold the fest as suggested by Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani,” she said.
A proposal to give grace marks for the winners of the state-level CBSE youth festival and a request to allot funds for conducting the fest were submitted to the Union HRD Ministry, she said.
On Thursday afternoon, a colourful procession will be taken out from Thekkinkadu Maidan in the heart of Thrissur town to the main venue of the fest school at 3 p.m. and the fest will be officially inaugurated at 6 p.m at the Devamatha school.
There will be nearly 50 floats reflecting the importance of education and students from 109 CBSE schools in the district will be part of the procession.
On Wednesday afternoon, a small procession (vilambara jatha) was taken out from the main venue and it passed through the main roads in Thrissur town.
Organisers said that till last year both the Management and Confederation were conducting separate youth festivals and the decision to conduct the fest jointly was taken last August in view of the national youth festival.
A welcome committee with 1,501 members was constituted last month and the website of the fest was launched. The festival committee is headed by Fr Tomy Nambiaparambil.
Jyothis Chandran, president of the All Kerala Sahodaya Complex, said that the youth festival would be a new experience. Mr Chandran is also the chairman of the Jyothis Central School Menamkulam, Kazhakuttom.
Meanwhile, no concrete decision has been taken on giving grace marks to all-India winners, though the Union HRD Minister is positive about the proposal, Mr Chandran said.
The proposal is likely to come up for discussions of the festival when Ms Irani is expected to take part in the concluding function to be held on Sunday, Mr Chandran said. It was a long standing demand of CBSE managements to give grace marks for performance in extra-curricular activities in board examinations as is being done in Kerala state stream.
“This was because state syllabus students had been getting an advantage during the normalisation process for engineering admissions in the state due to the grace marks they had got for various activities,” Mr Chandran said.
Meanwhile winners of the zonal level are excited about participating in the first combined state youth festival. Aiswarya Ramesh, Classs VII student of Bhavan’s Adarsh Vidyalaya, Kakkanad, Kochi said, “It is a big stage. I am eagerly looking forward to participating in it. My family is also excited.” Aiswarya won the first prize in Bharatanatyam, Monoact and in English Recitation in Category II at the Ernakulam zone youth festival. Her sister Anaswara studying Class III also won prizes in English elocution, recitation and folk dance at the zonal festival.
Their father Ramesh A, an investment consultant, said that if grace marks were awarded to winners at the big stage, it would be a big boost for them.
Another student participating in the state youth festival Shikha Menon studying at Bhavan’s Varuna Vidyalaya, Thrikkakara is also elated at the new opportunity. She will be participating in Hindi and English recitation after qualifying from the zonal youth festival held at MET Public School Perumbavoor.
“At the zonal festival it was a friendly competition and it was a nice experience. These are venues where we can explore and reveal our talents. I separate study from co-curricular activities,” Shikha said.
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