THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The long-pending demand of students in around 1,400 CBSE-affiliated private schools in the state to participate in state and national-level arts competitions, has now borne fruit. Beginning this academic year, students from Classes IX to XII of “any government, government-aided and private school” can also participate in Kala Utsav, the national-level arts fete organised by the Department of School Education & Literacy of the Union Ministry of Education. Owing to the pandemic,this year the fete will be held online.
Launched in 2015, Kala Utsav was confined to Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) students. The ministry decided to widen the ambit of the arts fete from this year in the wake of numerous representations submitted by the Council of CBSE Schools, Kerala (CSSK) -- an association representing over 800 schools.
Though the state government has been conducting the ‘State School Kalotsavam’ every year, it was out of bounds for students of CBSE or ICSE schools. However, the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Education for Kala Utsav does not differentiate between state board schools or schools affiliated to national boards, paving way for all students to participate.
“This has come as a big relief to thousands of students in unaided CBSE schools who did not have a proper national-level platform to exhibit their talents,” said CSSK chief patron Indira Rajan. CSSK, which took the lead in conducting the state-level CBSE sports meet last year, is expected to play a key role in conducting the state leg of Kala Utsav 2020.
In phase I, competitions will be held online at the district and state-level. While government, government-aided and private schools will be clubbed in one category, students from KVs and JNVs will participate in separate categories.