ALAPPUZHA: The penultimate day of the competitions at the 59th Kerala State School Festival at Alappuzha witnessed a fierce battle between four districts - Palakkad, Kozhikode, Kannur and Thrissur - to clinch the overall championship title.
When the results of the major items were announced on Saturday, the defending champion Kozhikode led the points table with a score of 592. Palakkad district which unleashed a stellar performance secured 590 points.
Thrissur district had to be content with the third position with 577 points. Meanwhile, Kannur district is also sharing the third position. However, the performance of the host district spread a disappointing note among the local people. At the time of filing the report, Alappuzha district plunged into seventh position. Ernakulam and Malappuram shared the 6th and 5th position respectively.
Meanwhile, in the school-wise point table, BSS Gurukalam HSS, Alathur, in Palakkad district is leading in both the HS and HSS category with 76 and 72 points respectively.
Slow start
Though the programmes at all the venues were scheduled to be held at 9 am, most of them started an hour late.
Even the venues which didn’t require any preparation also failed to be ready on time, leading to several events finishing late at night.
Protest at venue 6
The TD School venue in the morning witnessed a protest with the koodiyattam contestants complaining about the pathetic state of the venue. Since the stage was small in size, the contestants raised the demand to shift the venue. Though the organisers were reluctant to agree initially, they had to relent eventually.
Celebrities fail to turn up
Though the school art fest played a major role in nurturing several actors, many of them failed to turn up to encourage the budding talents. Only actor Anu Sithara was present to congratulate the students.
Vattanode school grabs drama title
Alappuzha: GVHSS Vattanode, Palakkad, has bagged ‘A’ grade in the drama competition of the HS category. ‘Meenkuttayile Subarkam’ a drama depiction of the drama ‘Fruits paradise’ written by Czechoslovak playwright Vera Chytilova, was the theme of the drama. A total of 23 teams, including appeal contestants, performed in the event. Abin Babu, who played Musthafa in the drama, was chosen the best actor. The drama written by Reghunath was directed by Arun Lal. In the last state school festival, the same school had won the drama title.