Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the 62nd Kerala State School Arts Festival (the Kerala school Kalolsavam), an art competition for high school and higher secondary school students of Kerala, in Kollam on Thursday, January 4. The inaugural function was held at the Asramam Maidan, the main venue of the event. Speaking at the inauguration, the CM told parents that participation should be the main focus of the festival, and competitiveness should not be imposed on children.
Actor and dancer Asha Sharath performed the official song of the State School Arts Festival at the inaugural function. Actor Nikhila Vimal was the chief guest.
The five-day festival will culminate on January 8. Competitions will be held across 24 venues and around 14,000 contestants will showcase their talents in 239 events. Asramam Maidan can accommodate over 10,000 people at a time and a 60,000-square-foot space has been set up as the venue. For handling disputes regarding results, a state-level appeal committee has been constituted. Competitions in 59 events were conducted on the first day and Mohiniyattam was the first event.
The festival presents a combination of various traditional and classic art performances, musicals, mimicry, mime, recitations, drama etc. These include Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattam, Kathakali, Yakshagana, NadodiNritham, Oppana, Thiruvathira, Kolkkali, Duffumuttu, and Chavittu Nadakam.
Grades are awarded for individual and group performances which add up to points for each district. The winning district is announced on the final day. In 2023, Kozhikode district won the Kalolsavam trophy after a tight competition with Palakkad and Kannur.
The beginning of the festival can be traced back to 1956 when Dr CS Venkiteswaran was the Director of Education. He initiated the first school-level Arts Festival at the SRV Girls High School in Ernakulam. The Kerala State School Arts Festival was inspired by the Delhi Inter-university Arts Festival. Around 200 students participated in the Arts Festival..
The pre-Arts Festival procession was started during the 1975 Arts Festival which was held in Kozhikode. The awards for Kalathilakam, the girl contestant who scored the maximum points, and Kalaprathibha, the boy contestant who scored the highest points, were started in 1986. The practice was stopped in 2006 following multiple disputes and unsavory incidents. Till 2009, the name of the Art Festival was ‘Kerala School Yuvajanolsavam.’
Manju Warrier, Navya Nair, Vineeth Radhakrishnan and several other film actors who are well-known in Malayalam as well as other language film industries entered the film industry through the State School Arts Festival.
Ministers BN Balagopalan, K Rajan, J Chinju Rani and BN Ganesh Kumar participated in the inaugural function. Member of Parliament K Premachandran and Member of Legislative Assembly Mukesh also participated in the inaugural function.