The 15th Dr. Amidas Goradia National Inter-School Debate in English was held at The Indian School on 31st August, 2016. Last year, the event had gone International with the participation of a team from Kathmandu, Nepal. This year, too, the debate had an overwhelming participation of 25 prominent schools from several cities including the team from Kathmandu. The multi-format debate assessed the speakers on all genres of debate, namely, Division-Bell, Turncoat, Extempore, the Modified Cambridge format and the Block and Tackle.
After the lighting of the ceremonial lamp, Chief Guest, Mr. Ved Prakash Marwah, former Comissioner of Police, Delhi and Governor of Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, addressed the august gathering. Mr. Marwah reiterated the importance of debating which he said arms the participants with the art of dealing with the vicissitudes of life. He lauded the Schools efforts in inculcating the art, among its students.
[gallery link="file"]Mr. Parnab Mukherjee, independent media analyst, curator and performance-consultant was the moderator at this prestigious event. 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).
The eminent panel of jurists Mr. Parnab Mukherjee (Chair Judge), Ma. Asiya Zahoor, Mr. Rajesh Mishra and Mr. Baishampaya Saha adjudged the speakers on their spontaneity, instinct and interpretation. The preliminary round was a combination of Extempore and Turncoat. The teams fiercely showcased their prowess at skilful thinking, dexterously switching sides at the press of a buzzer, presenting the propositions followed by the opposition of their own arguments!
Words rallied back and forth as the participants weighed their words even as they pondered and pronounced upon varied topics ranging from This house believes that the publics right to know is more important than the celebritys privacy to This house believes that Secularism in our country is an oxymoron, not to forget, This house believes that Journalism in all its forms is no longer a noble profession or The weak shall prevail. The young debaters spoke with lan and profundity as they exposited on an eclectic mix of topics: This house believes in the urgency of now and not the romanticism of then. This house believes that violence is a tool for those who have nothing to lose and little to gain.
The audience was treated to a cascade of words as the young minds threaded their way through yin and yang, with literary embellishments, while the points and retorts thrust back and forth like spears.
The B K Birla Centre for Education (Delhi-NCR), the Mayo College Girls School (Ajmer), The Indian School (Delhi) and Springdales, Pusa Road (Delhi) made it to the semi-finals for which the topics were This house supports World War I and World War II as the main blueprint for development and This house believes that whatsapps new privacy policy to share user data with the company Facebook, points to the deep rot of big corporations taking customer rights for granted.
Eventually Mayo College Girls School (Ajmer) and The Indian School (Delhi) qualified for the final round. Both teams spoke on the topic This house knows and denies the religious brainwash in India with an expanded and reduced motion for the second and the third speaker from each team. With the Block and Tackle round rang out a chorus wherein the contending speakers dealt with complex ideas weaving their way forward by strongly presenting their points and simultaneous counterpoints as sought by the moderator. Each of the contending debaters worthily tackled every assault with a counterpoint that was more than adequate!
The Winners Trophy was well-deserved by the flamboyant speakers of The Indian School while the runners up trophy was awarded to Mayo College Girls School (Ajmer). Aritho Bose (Genesis Global School) and Ritwik Saha (Springdales, Pusa Road) were adjudged Best and the Second Best speakers, respectively.
The other prize winners were: 1. Joint 2nd Winners: Spring Dales, Pusa Road and B.K. Birla Centre for Education, Pune 2. Best Speaker Overall: Apratim Shrivastav, DAV Sushil Kedia Vishwa Bharti, Nepal 3. Second Best Speaker Overall: Deekhit Bhattacharya, Spring Dales, Dhaula Kuan 4. Best Interjector: Don Bosco School, Alaknanda 5. Best Speech Writer: Poorvi Agarwal, Genesis Global School, Noida and Anurag Soni, MSMSV, Jaipur. 6. Best Outstation Team: B.K. Birla Centre for Education, Pune
Ms. Parul Khungar.
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