The spirit of the State School Arts Festival will stay strong even if the manual changes. N.S.K. Umesh, Director of General Education (DGE), told The Hindu a review will happen after the 64th festival ended on Sunday. "We found that some students were exhausted after their 15-minute performance in Mangalamkali, which was introduced only last year," he said. "We will consider if the duration has to be reduced to 10 minutes, but only after discussing with all stakeholders, as it is a traditional art form." Mr. Umesh said talks about changing the festival’s rules could start in the new academic year. "The Department of Education is happy that the festival was conducted smoothly," he added. "It was due to the effort of so many people that we could do it so well. Even the Ministers camped here for the festival, and the teachers and officials worked round the clock." This was his first State School Arts Festival after becoming the DGE. "I was amazed by the sheer size of the event – more than 13,500 participants, 25 venues, 20 places for accommodation," he said. "It is a logistical marvel and something Kerala should be proud of. I have participated in arts competitions back home in Tamil Nadu – I was into elocution, versification, essay-writing and cricket commentary – but those events were not held together, and not on this scale." Having worked during the Wayanad landslides and the Brahmapuram fire, Mr. Umesh found this festival a new challenge. "You can’t let even small things go wrong, as there are kids involved," he said. "I enjoyed watching the programmes too, whenever I could. I think there were around 12,000 children participating for the Group Dance competition that I watched. My parents, who came to watch the festival, were also surprised by the size of crowds at different venues." Mr. Umesh urged participants to handle competition better. "They take defeats, getting ‘B’ Grade instead of ‘A’, too hard," he said. "They shouldn’t take such setbacks to heart and think that’s the end of life. They should understand that even Sachin Tendulkar could sometimes get out for a duck."