Students perform at an inter-school competition at SK Memorial Hall on Tuesday. Over 3000 students from 37 schools took part in the competition, organised by an event management company. The event comprised 40 competitions, including music, dance, face painting, mehndi, quiz and comic strip making. Syed Sultan Ahmed, the organiser of the competition, said: “This was different from other inter-school competitions because thousands of students participated in the event. In how many inter-school competitions can you find this kind of participation? There is a great craze for this event among students.” This is the 10th edition of the contest. “The competition is scheduled to be organised in 21 cities of India, including Delhi, Bangalore and Calcutta, besides four other south-Asian countries — Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka,” Ahmed said. Patna is the 15th city where the competition was organised. While winners of various competitions will be awarded trophies, certificates and gift hampers, the student who comes first in the personality competition will qualify for the national final. “The national winner will take part in the south-Asian competition (to be held in December in Bangalore). The winner will win a five-day trip to South Africa and receive a scholarship of Rs 1 lakh,” Ahmed added. Text by Shuchismita Chakraborty, picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey