SFI in Kerala just pulled off a cultural fest for students from 96 colleges with everyone stuck at home. This is how

The three-day-long fest saw the participation of hundreds of students from 96 colleges across Kozhikode. This is how they pulled off this awesome feat
The fest ended on April 13
The fest ended on April 13

Sure, the entire country is under lockdown. But does that mean that this is an end to all the fests and festivities especially for college students? Apparently not. On April 10, the SFI's Kozhikode District Committee kickstarted an online cultural fest for college students across the district called La Sopravivenza. The fest, which ended on April 13, saw the participation of hundreds of students from 96 colleges, where all of them performed inside their homes, without violating the lockdown norms.

We caught up with the SFI Kozhikode District Secretary Athul T, who spoke to us about the successful conduct of the event. Excerpts:

When did you start planning for this fest?
The Chief Minister, during one of his press conferences, had said that since the students are home, they must use this time in a productive way. This prompted us to start this carnival as well as SFI's teleclasses.

Since everyone is under self-quarantine, how did you organise it so well?
There are around 30 organisers and everyone organised the event sitting inside their houses. None of saw each other. We coordinated everything online.

How does it all work? How did students take part in events?
The registrations were open to all students, not just SFI members. They got to register through their respective student unions. We had students from professional colleges, ITIs, Polytechnic and even parallel colleges. Now, for instance, if a student had registered to participate in Mohiniyattam, we put them in a WhatsApp group with the other participants. We allot them the time slot and ask them to send a video of their performance to a particular email ID at that time. They have to clip on a code that we give them, perform at their home, record a video and email it to us. The code is stuck to them, in order to assure that it isn't an old video.

How was the judging done?
The videos that the students had sent to us were then forwarded to the judges, who are also in their houses. They decided on the results and sent them to us. The judges were already selected based on Calicut University's recommendation.

You also conducted a debate competition at this festival? How was that done?
Here, the students participated in teams of two. While one participant spoke for the motion, the other spoke against it. They recorded the videos individually and sent them to us. There was obviously no way for them to ask questions to each other. The fest had its limitations.

How did you ensure that essays and art weren't plagiarised?
We made the students record a timelapse video of them writing or making art and send it to us along with the work. This way, we got to make sure that the work was original.

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