Even as the government considers comprehensive revision of the State School Arts Festival manual, the M.A. Khader committee on reforms in school education has proposed that the State School Arts Festival be re-envisaged as a cultural exchange platform free from competition.
The report that has been given conditional nod by the Cabinet recently calls for structural changes to be made to the school arts festival.
Taking note of unhealthy competition and huge rows in school arts festivals, the committee moots that competitions should end completely by the district level. The State-level event should be limited to cultural exchanges. It should provide students an opportunity to gain more knowledge about their art and express it, besides ensuring the survival of art forms of Kerala. Unhealthy competition should be discouraged.
The school arts festival and other festivals should end at the panchayat/municipal level for primary classes. For secondary classes, preliminary events should be held in the school education office limits and all events should conclude with the district festivals.
The committee report recommends that students should be categorised into primary and secondary to avoid unhealthy levels in the arts festivals. Visual and audio events should be clubbed into one unit and visual-audio events that usually attract more attention be conducted separately.
It calls for a fixed calendar for the arts festival so that it can be popularised among domestic and international tourists and become part of their itinerary as well as that of visitors within the State.
The influence of grace marks has turned the arts festival into a competition. While students should be given encouragement, there is need to examine if the current practice should continue.
It also observes that the most popular events at the festival require huge financial spending. As a result, only the financially well-off are able to take part in them. This should change, and all those with talent should be able to take participate in them.
The report notes that competitions are called festivals at present. Authorities and society should examine how the competitions can be turned into festivals where students talents are recognised and promoted and the State’s cultural diversity showcased instead of reflecting the ugly aspects of competition. School-level festivals should be reimagined for this.
It makes note of unhealthy competition among parents and schools right from the school level. Appeals at various levels and court processes make the judgment of experts irrelevant. Instead of a transparent and democratic judging process, judges are kept under surveillance through various means and events judged in an atmosphere devoid of trust. The reasons for this should be investigated and addressed.
The committee also observed that district and State festival are held without proper planning. Division of various festival committees among teachers’ organisations should change, and responsibilities, including fund utilisation, should be given to district education officers.
