Secondary level students of government and private schools will have to battle it out virtually to exhibit their creative and artistic skills during this year’s Kala Utsav 2020 as the school education and literacy department of Jharkhand has decided to conduct the centrally sponsored event online in the wake of continued lockdown of educational institutions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

An initiative of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and NCERT, Kala Utsav began in 2015 to promote arts in education by nurturing and showcasing the artistic talent of school students across the country.

Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC) on Wednesday formally sent out communiqués to all the districts announcing the schedules of this year’s programme, which will be held in three stages—district, state and national level—all across the digital platform.

JEPC project director Shailesh Chaurasia said that event is for students between class 9 and 12. “Students from all such schools between these classes irrespective of government, government aided or private entities are eligible to participate in the competition. Since schools in the state are still not unlocked, we will be holding the tournaments—right from performances to evaluation by expert jury panels via online,” he said.

A total of 18 categories of events will be held covering various forms of performing arts, painting, traditional games such as puppetry, sculpture making among others. For the district level contest, district education officers have been asked to invite entries in photograph and video formats in each of the each category latest by November 29.

“At the district level, a four member expert jury will evaluate the entries and pick two winners — a male and a female per category. Video entries in performing arts shouldn’t exceed more than six minute and can be in any form be it in pen drive/CD/DVD,” he said, adding that every district is mandated to send works of the district-level winners to the state committee (education department) latest by December 2.

The state level meet will be held from December 7 to 12. “Here, district level winners will have to perform live before the state level jury as per their allotted time slots, which will be intimated to them in advance. Following the assessment, top three winners in each category will be awarded with a certificate and trophies,” he concluded. However, only one top winner comprising male and female each per category will proceed for the national level contests after its schedules and format is announced by the MHRD.