TIRUCHY: Vacation time is around the corner but a section of government school students across Tamil Nadu look forward to attending school then as the State-level competitions under ‘Art Festival’ is scheduled to be held later this month. Not only has the government initiative that was rolled out last month achieved its objective of re-engaging students in extracurricular activities, which lulled during the Covid-19 pandemic, but it has also improved attendance in schools, say officials.
Kakarla Usha, Principal Secretary, School Education Department, said the idea behind the art festival was to reengage students in school events after a two-year-long gap. "We consider the competitions [under the festival] as a confidence-building measure and believe it will create an emergence of classroom dialogue between the teacher and the students," she added.
Officials say more than 28 lakh students across the State participated in around 160 events held as part of ‘Art Festival’. The list of competitions ranged from vocal music to dance to language. As many as 1,76,400 students were selected from the block-level events who then took part in district-level competitions.
The participants were categorised into three segments – those in Classes 6-8, 9-10, and Classes 11-12. Those in Classes 6-8 had 36 events, those in Classes 9-10, 78 events, and students of Classes 11&12 had 82 events. Winners who qualified in the district-level would be participating in the festival’s State-level events during December 27-30. Chief Minister MK Stalin would give away prizes to the winners.
The State-level events are scheduled to be held in Madurai for Classes 6-8, in Coimbatore for Classes 9-10, and Chengalpattu, Tiruvallur, and Kancheepuram for students of Classes 11 and 12. S Anbusekaran, Assistant Project Officer of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (Tiruchy district), said,
"Several school students show an interest in these competitions and this has eventually improved the attendance in every school which we hope will continue." P Kowshik, who is pursuing Class 8 at Thirupainjeeli government higher secondary school and played the parai at a group event in the district-level competition said he did not have prior formal training in playing the instrument. It was because of the ‘Art Festival’ that he learned it from the villagers, he said.
S Umamaheshwari, an activist, however, said expenditure heads like students’ transportation cost for the festival should be taken care of by the government. "Other costs for arrangements like mikes, speakers for the events could be better handled." Meanwhile, Principal Secretary Usha said the winners in the festival’s State-level events would be taken on foreign trips to experience International art festivals and events.
Also, several eminent artists in various fields have come forward to hone the talents of the student participants, she added. A department official said a plan is on to conduct the art festival from July in the next academic year.