They came, they spoke and they conquered, not just the coveted India
Today Cup but also the hearts of the judges at the the 15th edition of
the inter-school debate competition at Vasant Valley School, Vasant
Kunj.
What made the winning team different from the others was its
nationality. For the first time a foreign team - Lahore College of Arts and Sciences (LACAS) from Pakistan - participated in the competition
and bagged almost all awards, except for the third best speaker
trophy, won by Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai. Schools
from Kolkata (La Martiniere), Bangalore (Vidyashilp), Gwalior (Scindia
School), Chandigarh (Vivek High), Dehradun (The Doon School), Ajmer
(Mayo College Girls' School) and Mumbai (Cathedral and John Connon) participated in the two-day event. LACAS and Cathedral and John
Connon School made it to the final of the competition.
Handing out the awards to the winners, Rekha Purie, chairperson,
Vasant Valley School, commended the students on their performance. "I
congratulate the participants on putting up such a wonderful
presentation and wish them the very best of luck," she said. Arun Kapur, the director of Vasant Valley School, said: "The unique
feature of the event was the debating camp held after the competition,
in which each participant was given constructive feedback. The debate
followed the conventional style for the preliminary round on Thursday
and Cambridge format for the semi-final and final rounds on Friday."
The topic of the debate was 'International Olympic Committee should ban all countries that commit human rights violations from
participating in the Olympics'. The team from LACAS spoke for the
motion and Cathedral and John Connon opposed it.
The three-member team from Lahore, who won the final, favoured
severing all ties with countries which were violating the basic rights of
their citizens. "The only way of showing our solidarity and expressing our disgust with such countries is to cut all ties with them. Only by
isolating them completely can we create a condition that will force
them to act in accordance with global human rights conventions,"
Hashim Bajwa, a Class XII student of LACAS, said.
His team member, Umar Ali, won the second best speaker, while Parth
Jhaveri of Cathedral and John Connon School won the third best speaker award. The team of Cathedral and John Connon School argued
that a move of isolating countries that were allegedly violating the
rights of their citizens would politicise the games and take away the
opportunity from their best athletes to show their talent.
Pakistan school sweeps India Today debate : India, News - India Today
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