KOCHI: In the past, September and October used to be hectic months for students owing to the youth festival season. However, with the pandemic shifting classes online, the scenario looked bleak when it came to students getting an opportunity to showcase their extra-curricular talents.“The ‘new normal’ has become the norm. Why deny the children an avenue to show their talents? So, we conducted not just the usual inter-house competitions but also gave our new students a stage to introduce themselves through their talents,” said Sreekumar Kartha, principal, Global Public School.
“The only difference from the previous years is that now students compete on online platforms from the safety of their homes,” he said. According to him, the competitions took place as usual. “The performances got evaluated by a panel of judges,” he added.Many schools decided to wait for a while before organising their intra-school competitions. Belinda Vivera, vice-principal, Greets Public School, said: “The decision to conduct a Talent Fest was taken in July. However, since the students were just getting acclimatised to the online mode, we considered conducting the same after the Onam holidays.”
“Since the school was organising competitions Google Meet, the number of events were cut short,” she added.“Hence, unlike the 20 to 25 events that might have otherwise taken place, this year only 10 to 15 were conducted. A good number of students participated and performed in the events,” said Belinda who added that the fest would not have been a possibility without the help of the parents. “The events were held in offline and online modes,” said Belinda.
According to Premlata Shaji, vice-principal, Cochin Refineries School, only off-stage competitions like recitation, elocution and others were conducted. “It would be tough and impractical to conduct stage items,” she said. “The rest were held as usual and the participants had to go through various levels before becoming eligible for the finals,” said Premlata.
Meanwhile, Indira Rajan, secretary-general, National Council of CBSE Schools said: “It is good to find avenues to promote the talents of the students, who otherwise have no outlet to expand the same.” “Being cooped up inside their homes is not something children relish. So, providing the students with a stage to showcase their talents is a good move. However, conducting it on a scale as that of a school youth festival is not thinkable,” added Indira.