This is an old story. In those days, there was neither a dining hall nor a Pazhayidam Nampoothiri to cook food for the school arts festival. Students who participated in the first festival in 1957 had to bear the pangs of hunger. Then organisers arranged food at a restaurant opposite the venue at Ernakulam Girls School and food coupons were given to students and teachers. Those who had to travel long distances were given Rs 1 as food allowance. In addition to that, transport allowance was given to bring them to the festival venue.
Today, food will be served to 15,000 people at the festival. Authorities say that even if the mythological King Nalan, known for his culinary expertise, cooks food, it will be difficult to satisfy teachers and students coming from all over the state.
The first event
The idea of an arts festival in Kerala germinated in the mind of the director of education, C.S. Venkiteswaran, who happened to see an arts festival organised in Delhi for university students. A special meeting for this purpose was convened in November that year. All schools were informed that an arts festival was going to be organised to encourage talented children, and interested parties were asked to take part in it. Arts festivals were held in all districts in December.
Though the plan was to hold the first school arts festival in the state in Model School, Thiruvananthapuram, in 1957, it was moved to Ernakulam. Competitions were held in a few halls of the girls’ school and accommodation was arranged in a neighbouring school. Including 60 girls, 400 students participated in 18 competitions in 13 categories.
The venue of the second festival was Girls’ Model School in Thiruvananthapuram and the education minister was Joseph Mundassery. It was in this festival that Yesudas won a prize in singing and Jayachandran won a prize in Mridangam. The number of contestants crossed 600 in that festival.
Dining hall
Even then, arranging food for students was a problem. A sumptuous feast was arranged when the festival was held in Changanassery in 1962. The condition that only those who win first prize must be considered for the state festival was stipulated that year.
There was mass participation of people when the festival was held in Thiruvalla in 1964. Till then decisions were taken only by officials, but that year the general public were included in committees. All India Radio aired top artistic performances to the public. Though people thronged the venue to watch drama competition, fewer people went to see dance performances. The festival was not held in 1966, 1967, 1972 and 1973 due to war and emergency.
The festival for which the least amount of money was spent was held in Palakkad. It cost only Rs 10,250 to conduct the ninth festival over three days in Shoranur. The cost of conducting the festival reached lakhs of rupees in 1990s. Today the expenditure is more than Rs 1 crore.
Participation of ministers
Ministers started attending the inaugural and closing ceremonies of the festival from 1968. That year the venue was Thrissur. The festival was inaugurated by C.H. Mohammed Koya and prizes were distributed at the closing ceremony by chief minister E.M.S. Nampoothirippad. The first festival souvenir was issued that year. Many literary giants such as G. Sankara Kurup, Uroob, ONV and Basheer wrote for it.
First pandal
In the 1970s the festival underwent major transformation. A big pandal was built for the festival for the first time when it was held in Irinjalakkuda in 1970. This time a pandal in which 7,000 people can be seated has been built by Ummar Padappa, a native of Cheruthuruthi.
A special song for the festival was presented in 1971, and All India Radio broadcasted performances that won prizes. The festival held in Kozhikode in 1976 witnessed a grand procession. The procession from Mananchira Maidan to Zamorin’s High School was led by K. Karunakaran, the home minister of the day. Telephone facilities were arranged for the festival in 1977. The festival of 1978 found a place in history when competitions were held at four venues for the first time.
Kalaprathibha and Kalathilakam
Kalaprathibha and Kalathilakam, the top honours for boys and girls, were introduced at the 1986 festival held in Thrissur. The names were suggested by Chemmanam Chacko, a poet. The honours were first won by R. Vineeth of Kannur and Ponnambili of Kollam. Later they became famous in movies. These honours were stopped in 2005 with the Tirur festival when it came to light that they led to unhealthy competition. The last honour was won by Athira R. Nath. Aparna K. Sharma, a native of Thrissur, became Kalathilakam with the help of a court verdict. But to win that honour she had to wait for a year. A grading system was implemented in 2006 to stop unhealthy competition.
Golden cup
Mahakavi Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon, who attended the festival in Ernakulam in 1985 as a judge, was the one who suggested a golden cup for the festival. The next festival was held at Thrissur, the land of gold traders. Though the education minister of the day, T.M. Jacob, invited gold traders and asked them to collect the precious metal for the cup, they could source only less than 20 sovereigns instead of the target of 101 sovereigns. Jacob was dejected, and a gold-plated cup was given in its place.
However, Jacob’s sorrow vanished at the festival in Kozhikode in 1987. A gold cup using 117.5 sovereigns was made with money collected from students and teachers, and it was designed by Chirayinkeezhu Sreekandan Nair. The cup was first brought to the capital.
Expansion
The first festival that saw the participation of students from class 1 to 10 was held in 1989. Contests among educational districts were ended and, instead, revenue districts began to battle it out. In 1992, LP and UP competitions were limited to the district level. In 1993, Sanskrit festival became a part of the main event. In 1994, CBSE schools were excluded from the festival. The festival was computerised when it was held in Thodupuzha in 2001. Arabic literary festival was added to the school arts festival when it was held in Ernakulam in 2006. By including all arts festivals, it was renamed that year as Kerala School Kalolsavam.
The festival got a website when it was held in Thiruvananthapuram in 2009. Another reform was made that year: higher secondary and VHSE students were allowed to take part in the festival, the duration of which was extended from five days to seven days.
Star singers
G. Venugopal (light music, 1976)
Sujatha Mohan (light music, 1974, 1976)
K.S. Chitra (light music, 1978)
Sreenivas (classical music, 1974)