54TH REVENUE KOLLAM DISTRICT SCHOOLS ARTS FESTIVAL

54^TH REVENUE KOLLAM

DISTRICT SCHOOLS ARTS FESTIVAL

Hectic activity was witnessed on Friday on the campus of the Government Mahatma Gandhi Higher Secondary School at Chadayamangalam, the main venue of the 54th revenue Kollam district schools arts festival, to restore the main Pandal which caved in on Thursday.The literary competitions of the festival began on the campus on Friday and the festival will be formally inaugurated in Saturday.The inaugural function was scheduled to take place inside the Pandal that caved in. The incident had led to tension erupting on the campus as local people rushed there and held demonstrations. It led to even demands being raised to postpone the event. The situation eased following talks initiated by the district administration.Representatives of the district administration led by Revenue Divisional Officer V. Vijayaprakash are directly supervising the restoration work. By Friday evening, the restoration work was almost complete and the organisers have given a guarantee to the quality of the restored Pandal.

The festival will be inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Kodikunnil Suresh on Saturday. The inaugural function will be preceded by a cultural procession through Chadayamangalam town to herald the festival.One of the peculiarities of this year’s festival is that the management of two engineering colleges in the district have come forward to reserve admission for engineering courses to two boys and two girls from the higher secondary category who score the highest points in the festival.The colleges that have given the offer are the UKF Engineering College, Paripally, and Pinnacle School of Engineering Technology, Anchal. The valedictory function of the festival will be held on January 7.

Prof.  John Kurakar