Kerala School Kalolsavam: Appeals bring over ₹30 lakh to education department

The Kerala General Education Department has collected ₹30.1 lakh this year by accepting appeals filed for participation in the State School Kalolsavam.

The appeals are from students and teams who challenged district-level results and sought entry to the state-level competition.

Up to Saturday night, 402 appeals had been accepted. Each appeal carries a mandatory deposit of ₹10,000, taking the total amount collected to ₹40.2 lakh. Under the rules, the appeal fee is returned only if the student or team secures an A grade or gets at least one point more than the participant who won in the district Kalolsavam.

A total of 101 appeals qualified for a refund. The total refund amount came to ₹10.1 lakh.

The remaining ₹30.1 lakh will be credited to the department’s fund and is expected to be used for Kalolsavam-related expenses, as the plan allocation for the event remains limited.

Over 2,400 students competed through appeals

A total of 2,432 students took part in the appeals process this year. Of the 402 appeals, 339 were submitted through Deputy Directors of Education (DDEs), 49 via courts, and 14 through the Child Rights Commission and other channels.

Category-wise breakup:

High School: 176 appeals

Higher Secondary: 208 appeals

Sanskrit Kalolsavam: 9 appeals

Arabic Kalolsavam: 9 appeals

Thiruvananthapuram tops appeal count

Thiruvananthapuram district reported the highest number of appeals (59), followed by Kozhikode (58) and host district Thrissur (48). Idukki recorded the lowest, with 12 appeals.

Group dance and Oppana topped the list of events with the most appeals, recording 13 each in the high school category and 12 each in higher secondary. Last year, the total number of appeals was 325.