: Minister for Labour Shibu Baby John on Tuesday inaugurated the five-day Kollam revenue district schools arts festival at the Chavara Government Boys Higher Secondary School grounds. The festival is being held at various venues in Chavara and will conclude on January 10.
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In his inaugural address, Mr. Shibu praised the participation and standard levels of the State’s schools arts festival. But the fact is that much of this talent goes untapped after school. “Very few have tapped it in the right manner to become successful in life,” he said.
The Minister said this was due to the fact that parents encouraged such talents mainly for the purpose of gaining entry into professional colleges. Once that is achieved, the talents are ignored. “We should seriously have a rethink of such an attitude towards arts and the artistic talents of our children,” he said.
The Minister said the people of Kollam were keen on hosting next year’s State-level schools arts festival. He said he wóuld take the initiative at the government level to help realise it.
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Kollam MP N.K. Premachandran presided over the inaugural function.
District panchayat president S. Jayamohan and veteran kathaprasangam artiste Chavara Parukutty spoke. This is the first time that Chavara is hosting the revenue district level schools arts festival.
293 events
The organisers said 7,730 students from the educational districts of Kollam, Kottarakara and Punalur under the Kollam revenue district would compete in 293 events. Literary competitions and band troupe competitions were held on the first day.