The four-day Pattambi sub-district school arts festival wrapped up on Thursday at Government Vocational Higher Secondary School, Koppam. But what stole the show was a lab newspaper produced by journalism students of Government Janatha Higher Secondary School, Naduvattam.

Over the festival's three main days, they printed news and photos of the events, giving the celebration a unique, real-time chronicling that set it apart from other sub-district events in the State.

Janatha school's higher secondary journalism students have now produced the newspaper, Janatha Journal, for five consecutive years at the sub-district arts festival.

The newspaper in tabloid format hit the festival grounds before noon each day, packed with the day's headlines and colour photos. One thousand copies were handed out, giving the students, teachers and parents alike an engaging read and a lasting souvenir of the event.

The students covered the expenses through advertisements. They published their articles in both English and Malayalam. All reporting and editing were carried out by the students under journalism teacher Byju K.R.'s supervision. "It was a hand-on learning experience for the students," said Mr. Byju.

Since its launch at the 2019 sub-district arts festival at Pattambi, Janatha Journal has gone from strength to strength. After a two-year hiatus because of COVID-19, the newspaper returned in 2022 at Naduvattam, then in 2023 at Chundambatta and in 2024 at Edappalam.

"About two dozen students helped produce the newspaper," said Mr. Byju. Apart from covering the sub-district arts festival, Janata Journal also chronicles all school events and releases them as an e-paper.

The Janatha student initiative has earned the people's praise, especially from General Education Minister V. Sivankutty.

Besides the print edition, the Janata Journal team gathers footage for their YouTube channel and keeps active their Facebook and Instagram pages. Former journalism students of the school too come down to help their juniors during the arts festival.

School Principal S. Jude Louis is the chief editor and T. Krishna the student editor. The publication is brought out under the banner of the school's Media Club with technical support from computer science teacher K. Sreekanth.

Students roll out daily newspaper at Pattambi sub-district arts festival