16th Dr. Amidas Goradia National Inter school English Debate

" The power of real debate is in the language and intellectual honesty of the debaters alongside the engagement of the spectators." Ruzwana Bashir

The 16th Dr. Amidas Goradia National Inter school Debate was conducted at our School on 23rd August, 2017.

The programme commenced with the welcoming of Chief Guest Mr. Soli.J. Sorabji and the customary lighting of the lamp. The chief guest was escorted by the Chairman of the managing committee Mr. Shyam Divan and members of the Governing Board of our School. As we know the debate is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Amidas Goradia, ancestor of our chairman and the first allopathic doctor to qualify in India (1863).

Mr. Sorabji, formerly, Attorney General of India, addressed the gathering and expressed his thoughts about the role of the Supreme Court and the legal fraternity, freedom of the Press, etc. The forum was then left open for questions from the young enquiring minds.

The questions ranged from "Should the Right to Privacy be made a fundamental right? to Do you think the Sedition Act has bust the freedom of expression?

The debate had an overwhelming participation of 45 prominent schools of Delhi and outside. Our team included Saumya Saxena (XII), Avantika Chodha (XI) and Aatif Husain (XI).

The multi-format debate assessed the speakers on all genres of debate namely: Turncoat, Bridge round, Extempore, and Block and Tackle. Mr. Parnab Mukherjee, was the moderator at this prestigious event. The panel of jurists comprised Mr. Parnab Mukherjee, Mr. Sangat Halder (a cultural activist from Kolkata who has worked on a range of media including stage productions, session musicians and television serials) and Mr. Goutam Bijoria (an installation artist and a performer). They judged the speakers on their spontaneity, instinct, critical thinking, poise and interpretation. The preliminary round was a combination of Extempore and Turncoat. The teams fiercely showcased their prowess at skilful thinking, dextrously switching sides at the press of a buzzer, presenting the propositions followed by the opposition of their own arguments!

There were organised thoughts, views, impressions and ideas shared by the young enthusiastic debaters. Words rallied back and forth, as the participants weighed their words even as they pondered and pronounced upon varied topics (around 25) in the Elimination round ranging from This house believes that the GST was introduced at the right time to This house believes that verbal expression is superior to non-verbal expression, not to forget This house believes that in running for a country it is better to have a choice rather than compulsion or The hypermarket vs. the Local market. The young debaters spoke with lan and profundity as they exposited on an eclectic mix of topics like This house believes in the mixed economy vs. capitalist and socialist

The audience was treated to a cascade of words as the young minds spoke in an emphatic manner with an exchange of a plethora of words with literary embellishments, while the points and retorts thrust back and forth like spears. The audience was awestruck by the sheer magnificence and charismatic agility and range of the viewpoints.

Four teams qualified for the semi-finals. The First Semi-Final was held between Vasant Valley School and Mayo College Girls' School (Ajmer). The topic given to them was This house believes that the Commonwealth as an institution has outlived its utility and mandate. The second Semi-Final was held between The Indian School and Genesis Global School (Delhi-NCR) for which the topic was This house believes that diversity studies with a strong inter-faith content should be made a compulsory component of middle and high school syllabi. It was a fighting finish to the final.

Vasant Valley School and The Indian School qualified for the final round. Both teams spoke on the topic This house believes that Kurds, Catalan and Baluchistan should be allowed to secede. The Block and Tackle round provided an engaging session, where the contending speakers dealt with complex ideas weaving their way forward by strongly presenting their points and simultaneously counterpoints as sought by the moderator. Each of the contending debaters worthily Tackled and Blocked, every assault with a counterpoint that was more than adequate emphasising yet again their confidence, poise and self-esteem.

The Winners Trophy was well-deserved by the dextrous and vivacious speakers of The Indian School while the runners up trophy was awarded to Vasant Valley School. But as per tradition at our School, The Indian School, passed over the trophy to The Vasant Valley School. Best Outstation Speaker was Kiyara Sen of Singapore International School and Best Outstation Speaker after the elimination round was Navya Mehta of Mayo College Girls School(Ajmer).

The other prize winners were: 1. Best Team for Motion Construction- The Shri Ram School 2. Best Team- Bridge Round Singapore International School, Mumbai. 3. Best Speaker-Turncoat-Jayant Bakshi, DPS, Mathura Road 4. 2nd Best Speaker -Turncoat- Jashan Kaur Bachhal, Sherwood College, Nainital 5. 3rd Best speaker -Turncoat -Jayesh Gautam, Don Bosco School 6. Best speaker-Sejal Parnami, Maharaja Sawai Man Singh Vidyalaya, Jaipur 7. 2nd Best Speaker-Tushar Chandna, Birla Vidya Niketan. 8. 3rd Best Speaker- Sibani Sisodia Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls Public School, Jaipur 9. Best Outstation School- B.K. Birla Centre for Education, Pune 10. Second Best Outstation School-DAV Public School, Hazaribagh 11. Promising Construction Writer- Samridhi Negi, The ARDEE School 12 Best Interjector-Sudharshan Modi, B.K.Birla Centre of Education, Pune 13. Best Speech (written) Bridge Round-Nandini Patel, Singapore International School. 14. Best Speech Layout- Udyant Anand, Genesis Global School.

It was a proud moment for us as we lifted the winners trophy for the second time in a row. We would like to congratulate the proud winners and look forward to witnessing similar zest, passion and enthusiasm next year too.

Ms. Purnima Dwivedi.