KANHANGAD: Around 25,000 people—participants, escort teachers, parents, and art lovers — will descend on Kanhangad for the 60th School Youth Festival starting Thursday. And Kanhangad is ready, said Director of General Education K Jeevan Babu and municipal chairman V V Rameshan. The events will start at 9 am at venues, except for the main venue at Aingoth -- the stage for the festival’s inauguration, he said.
At 8 am, the director will hoist the festival flag and at 9 am Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan will inaugurate the festival. Actor Jayasurya will be the chief guest. The welcome song will be rendered by 60 school teachers to mark the 60th edition of the festival, said the top official of the festival. .
Appeal registration
Registration of the participants selected at the district-level competitions began at Durga Higher Secondary School in Kanhangad. Palakkad was the first team to register, he said. Those coming to the state festival through appeals should register their names at Government Higher Secondary School, Hosdurg.
Judges
Around 350 judges have been empanelled for the 339 events. The judges were selected with care to ensure fair assessment, said Jeevan Babu.
Prizes
All the participants would get a trophy, said the organisers. Those who get A grade would be given `1,000, said the director.
High Court dismisses 25 petitions
Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed as many as 25 petitions filed by students seeking a directive to permit them to participate in the State Arts Festival slated to be held from November 28 to December 1 in Kanhangad. While dismissing the appeals, Justice P B Suresh Kumar submitted that the court can exercise power under Article 226 only in exceptional cases where there is grave arbitrariness or where the decision is vitiated by malice. Most of the petitions were challenging the decision of the appeal committee of the fest.