How many marks out of 15 could a judge give a contestant at the most? What if a judge wants to ensure that a particular candidate wins? A judge came up with a solution for that at the recently concluded Kozhikode Sub-District Festival.
Two contestants in Mohiniyattam (high school section) were given 25 marks apiece for stage presence when the rule stipulated that the maximum was 15.
Foul play
Nobody would have found out the foul play if there was no Right to Information (RTI) Act. Parents are increasingly using RTI to bring out corrupt practices at school art festivals, at various levels.
“We received about 10 applications after the sub-district event in Kozhikode city,” Assistant Education Officer E. Syamala told The Hindu on Saturday. “We responded to all of them, of course in time,” she said.
A parent said he had been making use of RTI since 2008. “I began using it when I found out that corruption was rampant among judges in the dance events, especially at the sub-district and district levels,” he said.
“My daughter had been at the receiving end on several occasions; though she has been a winner at the State Festival, she often did not get selection even in the sub-district level. Once we found that she was given no marks under one head, which was worth 15 marks. There was just the remark, ‘excellent.’
No action
Denied 15 marks, the girl did not get the first prize and thus had to take the route of appeals. Her competitors had been given 20 marks when only 15 was allowed.
“It is strange that some of the judges who have constantly been indulging in such corrupt practices are not blacklisted,” he said. “If more parents make use of RTI, more of such judges could be exposed,” he said. The parents did not want to reveal the names because they feared their children, rather than the judges, could be ‘blacklisted.’)
