When curtain went up on the 61st edition of the State School Arts Festival in Kozhikode on Tuesday, the Malabar districts remain the favourites to lift the overall championship. In the 60-year history of the school arts festival, Malabar districts have won the championship 33 times, of which Kozhikode alone has won a record 20 times.
Since 2000, the championship has gone only once out of Malabar. Although Thiruvananthapuram district enjoys an enviable second position after Kozhikode by winning the championship 17 times, the district’s winning streak has something unique for education watchers in the State to explain. After the juggernaut it made in 1970s and 80s by winning 17 times, Thiruvananthapuram never laid its hands on the championship since 1989. And in 1991, Malabar districts, particularly Kozhikode, began their odyssey in the school arts festival.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurating the 61st State School Arts Festival in Kozhikode on Tuesday. Ministers Ahammad Devarkovil, P.A. Mohamad Riyas, A.K. Saseendran, and actor Asha Sharath are seen. | Photo Credit: Sakeer Hussain
Analysts say that this shift in arts festival winning streak from the southern districts to the northern districts of Kerala in the early 1990s had something to do with the shift in focus of education, particularly the academics at high school level. With the opening up of the medical and engineering professional education sector, parents and schools in southern districts began focusing more on academics than arts, sports and other extracurricular work.
“A cut-throat competition and career thrust developed in southern districts, particularly Thiruvananthapuram, is pushing children to private tuitions in separate subjects. Naturally, art and culture took a back seat,” says poet Manambur Rajanbabau, who has served himself as a judge for literary events of the school arts festival many a time.
A native of Thiruvananthapuram and now settled in Malappuram, Mr. Rajanbabu says that when schools and parents in southern districts stepped up their business motive, their counterparts in Malabar have showed more dedication to art, literature and culture. “It’s evident not only from lifting of the overall championship, but also from the unprecedented success of the events when they were held in Kozhikode and Malappuram,” says Mr. Babu.
According to M. Abdul Nazar, chief patron of Malappuram Sahodaya and State Chief Commissioner of Hindustan Scouts and Guides Association, Kerala, who has been watching the school arts festival for over three decades, the people in Malabar are more inclined towards art and culture, particularly temple-related art forms.
“Religion and related rites are given more significance in Malabar. Naturally kids are taught dances from an early age. We can say it is in their blood. Even at CBSE level, no southern district comes anyway close to Thrissur in arts festival. It is ingrained in them,” says Mr. Nazar.
Anil Kuruppan, school teacher and cultural activist from Malappuram, says that the students in Malabar are largely tuned to a different rhythm that serves advantageous to them in the State school arts festival.
“Malabar students often find better rhythm in events like Kolkali, Duffmuttu, Oppana, Vattappattu, Poorakkali, Mapilapattu and Parichamuttukali,” says Mr. Kuruppan.
According to him, the collective mindset of parents displayed in Malabar is often not visible in the southern districts. “I have attended the school festival many times. I could find that most parents from southern districts are concerned about the individual gains of their children. This attitude often pulls children away from competing in group items. And group items with more points often decide the championship,” says Mr. Kuruppan.
