Bhubaneswar, Nov. 14: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today said that the drop-out rate in the state had reduced and his government was focusing on the quality of education and making efforts to get more enrolments in schools.

Inaugurating the annual children's festival, Surabhi 2016, organised by the school and mass education department, Naveen said: "The dropout rate in schools have reduced considerably, and we are working to provide quality education to more children."

The three-day event kicked-off with a cycle rally from Forest Park to Unit-IX Boys High School, the venue for the event. About 1,000 students selected from block and district-level competitions over a period of one month took part in the event.

On the first day of the event, students had fun at the painting workshop. This was followed by a quiz competition at the Doordarshan Kendra. Workshops on art and painting, clay modelling, best out of waste, origami and puppet show, balloon art and maths were also organised for students.

"I was always interested in clay modelling. The workshop had resource persons and artisans to teach us more about the art form," said student Shantanu Jena.

"I learnt to paint using less of colours. The teachers also taught us the concept of shading," said student Mayuri Kanungo, who attended a painting workshop.

Students who excelled in various competitions at the event were given prizes. This was followed by a cultural performance by students on "Kanya rathna, Kara jatna" (Save girl child).

"Tomorrow, we will have a slogan-writing competition. This will be followed by a 'mock Assembly", in which students will be discussing on current affairs. Later in the evening, there will be a cultural concert titled Surbhi Yamini, by Spic Macay," said one of the organisers of the festival.

The event's last day will have handwriting, dictation, essay and slogan-writing competitions. It will also have song, dance and skit performances. This apart, a special book exhibition by the National Book Trust of India has been organised for children at the festival.

"There will be a special workshop on midday meal awareness to sensitise students and teachers on aspects of health and hygiene," said Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority director Mahendra Kumar Mallick. There are plans to screen educational movies and take students for sightseeing in the city as well.