20th Dr Amidas Goradia National Inter-School Debate

Debate and divergence of views can only enrich our history and culture.

The 20th Dr Amidas Goradia National Inter-School Debate in English was hosted by The Indian School on 19 and 20 August 2021. Having grown over the years, the debate saw an overwhelming presence of 31 premier school teams from cities across the country.

The event helps children broaden their horizons as they begin exploring wider knowledge and arriving at conclusions independently. Our policy aims at empowering children to become analytical and logical thinkers and the debate provides an opportunity to effectively deploy real-world knowledge and perspectives.

This years debate was dedicated to six landmark commemorations:

150th commemoration of the Paris Commune

Centenary of Chauri Chaura,

250th birth commemoration of Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Sir Walter Scott,

160th and 130th birth commemorations of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and Dr B.R. Ambedkar respectively.

Principal, Ms Tania Joshi extended a warm welcome to the guests, participants and the accompanying teachers. She spoke about how the event aimed at fostering critical thinking in students and that debating was an essential activity.

The august gathering included dignitaries from the school governing body, Chairman Mr. Prafull Goradia, Vice chair persons Dr (Ms) Nayana Goradia, Ms Brinda Goradia Shroff, Director Mr. Lal Raisinghani, Principal Ms. Tania Joshi and Vice Principal Dr Anu Singh. Also present were office-bearers of the School PTA Body and the teachers in-charge of the participating schools.

Chief Guest, Padmashri T.V. Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Global Education and formerly Director and CFO at Infosys was welcomed by Ms Brinda Shroff. In her address, Ms Shroff said that the biggest responsibility of a teacher is to train the students to think independently. Emphasising on the importance of decision making in personal and professional lives, Ms Shroff added how debating helps one to build that trait. In her words, this years debate was a magical melange as it celebrated diversity and oneness with the representation of schools from the length and breadth of India.

Shri Pai enlightened the students about the new digital India which is in its making and on the evolution of technology in the past few decades. He outlined its massive role in making the teaching-learning process more evolved and improved. Sir talked about how technology had become a boon in the field of education keeping in view the current time of the pandemic. He also mentioned the way artificial intelligence would reinvent the world in the coming future, especially the role that robots will play in making life easier and comfortable. Sir's clarity, knowledge and conviction about artificial intelligence left the audience spellbound.

Mr. Parnab Mukherjee, well-known knowledge resource curator chaired the prestigious event, which is dedicated to the memory of Dr Amidas Goradia, ancestor of our school Chairman and the first allopathic doctor to qualify in India in 1863. The co jury was Mr Sheikh Safwan, researcher and aspiring author and Mr Abhishek Pal, writer.

The preliminary round was a combination of extempore and turncoat debate. The extempore round saw the well-read participants speak their minds on a variety of topics like- A fistful of mud, Temporary truce, Entreaties, Broken and ruptured, Fireflies in the dark, etc. Our Manan Kakkar of class X spoke effectively in this round.

In the turncoat debate, the second speaker of each team fiercely showcased prowess at skilful thinking, dexterously switching sides at the call to turn, presenting the proposition followed by an opposition of the given motion. Some of the thought-provoking motions were- This House objects to the giving of international military aid to any nation under any circumstances, This House regrets the Westernisation of the elites in post-colonial countries, This House would ban any user/company from selling their data to corporates in exchange for financial returns, This House supports Rainbow Capitalism, etc. Gunveer Singh Dhir of class XII represented our School in this round.

In the meantime, the third speaker of each team, participated in the Bridge round and was asked to write four constructive affirmatives and four constructive negatives on the motion, This house believes that an "I" for an "I " makes the world blind. Shruti Arora of The Indian School displayed her talent in this round. The participants were given fifteen minutes to prepare their draft.

Eight teams made it to the two semi-final rounds. The first day ended with four teams battling it out in the first semi-final round held between Mayo College Girls School, Ajmer, Vasant Valley School, New Delhi, Singapore International School, Mumbai and Mahadevi Birla World Academy, Kolkata. The motion given to them was This House prefers a world where each believer establishes his or her own connection to God, rather than establishing one through any individual/collective interpreter/s of faith.

The second day of the debate saw the other four qualifying teams of the semi-final giving their best to make it to the final round. The teams that made it to the second semi-final were- DPS RK Puram, Kashmir Harvard Educational Institute, Srinagar, Mahatma Montessori Higher Secondary School, Madurai and The Indian School. The motion for the second semi-final was This House believes that multinational companies should be liable for human rights abuses that occur anywhere in their supply chains.

The final round saw a lively face-off between the two of the best teams in the event-The Indian School and Singapore International School, Mumbai on the motion, This house believes that the idea of a neutral media house is an example of 21st century oxymoron.

The much-awaited Block and Tackle round was faced by our Gunveer Singh Dhir and Aditya Bajoria of Singapore International School, Mumbai. Both the speakers skilfully changed stances as the moderator mentioned.

The Indian School team was declared the Runners-Up team, while the team from Singapore International School, Mumbai was named the proud winner. The Overall Third Prize was shared by DPS RK Puram, the Mahatma Montessori Higher Secondary School, Madurai and Kashmir Harvard Educational Institute, Kashmir. Since the host school was not vying for the trophy, it was then passed on to Kashmir Harvard Educational Institute.

Gunveer Singh Dhir, member of our schools debating team was announced the Best Speaker in the Finals.

The vote of thanks was proposed by Anushka Saxena and with that, the momentous occasion came to a joyous end.

All the participants were felicitated with e-certificates for successful participation.

The results of the event were:

THREE BEST SPEAKERS:

TURNCOAT- Zyan Dhillon, Mount Litera Zee School, Amritsar

Raj Patil, B K Birla Centre for Education, Pune

Arshya Gaur, Vasant Valley School

EXTEMPORE- Ishita Vaid, Mayo College Girls School, Ajmer

Ananya Manchanda, Lotus Valley International School, Noida

Rutvi Mahendra, Sunbeam School, Lahartara

THREE BEST SPEECH WRITERS:

BRIDGE ROUND Somedutta Chakraborty, Mahadevi Birla World Academy, Kolkata

Lakshika Khurana, Tagore International School, East of Kailash

Agnivo Banerjee, Birla Vidya Mandir, Nainital

SEMI FINALS: TWO BEST SPEAKERS -

SEMI-FINAL 1- Alitiya Choudhuri, Mahadevi Birla World Academy, Kolkata

SEMI-FINAL 2- Dhun Paliwal, Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram

BEST INTERJECTOR: Nivedita Aggarwal, Mayo College Girls School, Ajmer

WINNERS OF THE DEBATE: Singapore International School, Mumbai

FIRST RUNNERS-UP: The Indian School

JOINT THIRD POSITION (THREE PRIZES): Kashmir Harvard Educational Institute

Mahatma Montessori Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Madurai

Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram

BEST SPEAKER, FINALS: Gunveer Singh, The Indian School

BEST SPEAKER, BLOCK AND TACKLE: Aditya Bajoria, Singapore International School, Mumbai