A new system will be in place by next academic year to select the judges of various competitions at the district-level school arts fests to ensure transparency and check unethical practices in deciding the winners.
The Education Department has decided to shelve the existing practice where representatives of teacher organisations, entrusted with the conduct of district-level festivals, shortlist the judges. People close to the development told The Hindu on Friday that the proposed system will eliminate the loopholes in the selection process.
“It’s difficult to reveal the details of the new system of selection of judges at this stage considering the fact that it may get scuttled even before its implementation. But it [the idea] will be fool-proof and strong enough to break the alleged involvement of agents and middle-men in the selection of judges,” said a senior official.
Even though the festival manual prescribes that the Deputy Director of Education in each district will be responsible for the selection of judges, the Education Department accepted that the usual practice is to hand over the job to representatives of teacher organisations involved in the conduct of the annual festival.
“It’s often done to ease the pressure of the selection process from the shoulders of senior officials. Investigations on complaints had revealed bias and favouritism on the part of some judges in deciding the winners of events at the district fests. But we are not able to fix responsibility for the alleged lapses in view of the absence of concrete proof regarding the nexus,” the official said.
