District School Arts Festival gets under way

Thiruvananthapuram School arts festivals are the biggest stages to foster brotherhood and propagate

School arts festivals are the biggest stages to foster brotherhood and propagate secular thoughts, Minister for Transport Antony Raju has said.

He was speaking after inaugurating the five-day District School Arts Festival at Government Higher Secondary School for Girls, Cotton Hill, here on Tuesday.

The Minister said art forms that were on the verge of disappearing were being presented at the school arts festivals. They also provided all students the opportunity to take part in any event, without differences of religion or caste.

The Minister expressed hope that students taking part in the State School Arts Festival in January would bag the State trophy for the district.

Minister for Food and Civil Supplies G.R. Anil delivered the keynote address. District panchayat president D. Suresh Kumar presided.

More than 7,300 students who emerged winners in the upper primary (UP), high school (HS), higher secondary (HSS), and vocational higher secondary education (VHSE) categories at the 12 sub-district-level festivals are taking part in 310 events at the festival. The UP general category has 38 events, HS general 88, HSS general 102, UP Sanskrit 19, HS Sanskrit 18, UP Arabic 13, and HS Arabic 32 events. A total of 2,812 are taking part.

In all, there are 12 venues across Government HSS, Cotton Hill; Government Lower Primary School, Cotton Hill; Government PPTTI, Cotton Hill; SSD Shishu Vihar UPS, Vazhuthacaud; and Carmel HSS, Vazhuthacaud.