As the 57th Kerala School Kalolsavam in Kannur entered the third day on Wednesday, officials announced major changes to be brought about in the conduct of the annual festival in the years to come.
Speaking to The News Minute, Kerala’s Director of Public Instruction (DPI) Mohankumar says that a number of recommendations are being considered for the efficient conduct of the festival in the coming years.
The recommendations were formulated in a meeting held on Tuesday, in which state Education Minister C Raveendranath, DPI officials and media representatives took part. Suggestions included a re-look at a number of rules, including the ‘appeals’ system.
“The Kalolsavam Manual has not been revised since 2008. The main suggestion that surfaced during the discussion was that guidelines needed to be backed legally too,” says Mohankumar.
Another suggestion was that a screening be done to filter participants, post district-level competitions. Screening could be held after dividing the 14 districts into three zones, thereby ensuring a drastic cut in the number of participants at the state level.
An analysis of the grading pattern was also recommended to ascertain its efficacy in judging the participants. It was also felt that the current system of publishing names of the top three winners on the official website too needed to be looked into.
It was suggested that a participant be allowed to take part in lesser number of events than what is allowed at present, to help them specialize in a few, rather than gain mere superficial knowledge in too many art forms.
Focus must shift from the cultural to the literary, a few opined.
Many were also in favour of doing away with Appeals altogether, while some believed that the provision to appeal against the judges’ decision be allowed only up to the district level, but not at the state level.
Mohankumar also affirmed that parents of participants would have the opportunity to send in their suggestions: "We have placed suggestion-boxes at all major venues. Such suggestions will be considered at a later date, and the best of the lot will be adopted.”