“You don’t win a debate by suppressing discussion; you win it with a better argument.” Frank Sonnenberg
The 6th Edition of the Critical Thinking Round Table inter school competition was held at Sunbeam School, Lahartara on 22-24 December 2022. Manan Kakar (XI-A), Ekveer Sahoo (XI-A), Haritmaa Sharma (XI-D), Roopkatha (IX-D), Astha Choudri (IX-D), and Saanvi Jawa (IX-D) represented our School at the event.
The uniquely curated event was in honour of
The uniquely curated event was in honour of
1. The forthcoming 160th birth commemoration of Swami Vivekananda;
2. The 157th birth anniversary of Shri Atul Prasad Sen;
3. The ongoing centenary of philosopher Dharampal;
4. Three visionaries from beyond the shores who initiated collaborations and helped us to understand the ethos of Varanasi and Sarnath: Alexander Cunningham, Robert Pirsig and John Marshall and
5. 81-year-old living legend and Fukuoka prize awardee-Niels Gutschow, who wrote one of the greatest cartographic and comprehensive books on Varanasi titled Benares – The Sacred Landscape.The knowledge heritage content for the conclave was curated by eminent orator, Mr Parnab Mukherjee who conducted the knowledge expositions.
2. The 157th birth anniversary of Shri Atul Prasad Sen;
3. The ongoing centenary of philosopher Dharampal;
4. Three visionaries from beyond the shores who initiated collaborations and helped us to understand the ethos of Varanasi and Sarnath: Alexander Cunningham, Robert Pirsig and John Marshall and
5. 81-year-old living legend and Fukuoka prize awardee-Niels Gutschow, who wrote one of the greatest cartographic and comprehensive books on Varanasi titled Benares – The Sacred Landscape.The knowledge heritage content for the conclave was curated by eminent orator, Mr Parnab Mukherjee who conducted the knowledge expositions.
The event saw the participation of 68 leading schools. The event served as a locus for inter-disciplinary collaboration and discourse on diverse themes.
Post registration, the participants joined their respective links for creative writing and the multi-format debate. Below are the highlights of the two events.Crossfire Debate
Post registration, the participants joined their respective links for creative writing and the multi-format debate. Below are the highlights of the two events.Crossfire Debate
The preliminary round witnessed students expressing their thoughts and opinions in Extempore format, Turncoat, Bridge rounds and Block-and Tackle. Ekveer Sahoo pleaded his case on the topic “To deep dive, or not to”, highlighting choices and the human predicament that follows. Manan Kakar expounded on a format called Shipwreck. Assuming the persona of Maghfoor Ahmed Ajazi, he spoke eloquently on the position and status of Urdu, post-partition, Ajazi’s role as a political activist as well his contributions as a game-changer in contemporary society.
The semi-finals saw a face-off between two teams, for the motion and against the motion, respectively. The event witnessed 4 teams in the parliamentary debating format, followed by interjections from the audience. The motions were based on education and the political of citizens.
The motions of the semi-finals were “This House believes that ‘Sustainable Consumption’ movements are elitist and transfer blame from corporation” and “This House believes that Misandry and Misogyny cannot be equated”.
The finale was held between the host school’s sister branch, Sunbeam Suncity School and The Indian School. The topic for the debate was “This House believes that money manufactures power”. After a round of fiery and stimulating arguments, The Indian School emerged the proud winner of the debate. Manan Kakar (XI-A) won the Best Speaker (Block and Tackle) award.Creative Writing
Roopkatha (IX-D) crafted a 23-line piece (5 genre writing), a combination of Short Story, Monologue, Conversation, Diary Entry and Poem on the topic “Fly Away, Before The Wings Burn”, for which she was awarded Joint Third Position in the event Bricolage. Haritmaa Sharma (XI-D) was shown a video on farmers, post interpretation she composed Haibun ( a prosimetric literary form originating in Japan, combining prose and haiku) for which she bagged the Joint Second Position.
Mr Mukherjee applauded our School team for its spectacular performance. It was a moment of pride and honour for our School. May many more laurels come our way!
