A child takes a break during a fancy dress competition at the International Library and Cultural Centre Pictures by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, Jan. 29: The heavy satchels and the fat books were nowhere in sight. The drab school uniform were replaced by colourful attires. And instead of teachers, the students were facing judges.

It was a fancy dress competition at the International Library Cultural Centre today and students of various schools — right from nursery to Class V — turned up beautifully and imaginatively dressed at the event.

The participating schools were Sapphire International School, Sherwood Academy, St Mary’s (N) School, Surendranath Centenary School, Bridgeford School, Guru Nanak Higher Secondary School and Bishop Westcott Girls’ School, Namkum and Doranda. Each school had two participants.

The participants were divided into three groups. While group I consisted of students of pre-nursery, KG and prep, classes I and II were put together under group II and classes III to V under group III.

While some students came dressed as famous characters from the world of fairy tales and cartoon, others put on the garb of freedom fighters, famous personalities, national leaders and their role models. The most popular characters were Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Jhansi Ki Rani and cartoon figure Mowgli.

Just emulating a character was not enough. Students were also required to speak a few lines on why they chose a particular character. They had to act out the roles.

Yamini, a fifth grader of Bishop Westcott Girls’ School, Namkum, played the role of dancer and TV personality Sudha Chandran. “She is one of the best classical dancers. She continued dancing even after losing a leg in an accident and has also earned a name as a television star. Her story serves as an inspiration for me,” Yamini said.

A teacher of Bishop Westcott Girls’ School, Namkum, E. Dais, said their students were quite confident and performed well.