63rd State School Arts Festival to draw to a close on January 8; arrangements in place for valedictory ceremony

63rd State School Arts Festival concludes with final preparations for valedictory ceremony, featuring special guests and indigenous art forms.

The 63rd State School Arts Festival is drawing to a close, with final preparations in place to wrap up the event on Wednesday (January 8).

General Education Minister V. Sivankutty, who addressed a press conference here, said all competitions will be completed by 2 p.m., followed by the resolution of appeals and other procedures by 3.30 p.m. The coveted Gold Cup will be brought to the Central Stadium, the main venue, by 4 p.m., ahead of the valedictory ceremony scheduled for 5 p.m.

Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan will inaugurate the ceremony. Film actors Asif Ali and Tovino Thomas will be the chief guests. Food and Civil Supplies Minister G.R. Anil will preside over the function, and Mr. Sivankutty will present the Gold Cup to the winners. Speaker A.N. Shamseer will deliver the keynote address.

Chirayinkeezhu Sreekandan Nair, the designer of the Gold Cup, will be honoured on the occasion. Pazhayidom Mohanan Namboothiri, who completes 25 years in the culinary field, will also be felicitated.

An official holiday has been declared for all government, aided, and unaided schools in the Thiruvananthapuram district under the Public Education department on Wednesday. The district administration has also announced special traffic arrangements to manage the expected influx of attendees to the valedictory ceremony.

Mr. Sivankutty said the annual festival was held sans any major complaints, with 331 appeals being received thus far, far less than the previous years. He attributed this to stringent measures in various aspects, including judging.

This year’s arts festival stands out as the first in history to feature tribal art forms as competition events. The Minister announced plans to include more indigenous arts in the festival.