In the final debate of the competition held at Theatre Institute Chattagram (TIC), the last year's champion Summer Fields became the runners-up.

Farah Iqbal of William Carey Academy was adjudged the best speaker of the final.

In the Best Speaker Round of the debate held in the format of United Nations model, Gopal Biswas of Summer Fields School achieved the 'Debater of the Tournament' award. Maliha Ahmed of Bay View and Zuhair Mehtab Ali of Oxbridge International School were adjudged the best debaters in this round.

Drishty, a cultural organisation, arranged the competition under the auspices of The Daily Star and Mutual Trust Bank.

Ten renowned English medium schools of the port city took part in the competition held in parliamentary style.

Speakers at the closing ceremony called on the future leaders of the country to exercise tolerance and logics while making any decision in every steps of life and thus contribute to society.

The Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam was the chief guest at the ceremony chaired by Chief Adviser to Drishty Farid Ahmed Chowdhury.

Abul Momen, the Chittagong-based resident editor of the Prothom Alo, Khorshed Alam, senior vice-president of Mutual Trust Bank, Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury, senior executive vice-president of Jamuna Bank, Safia Gazi Rahman, principal of Sunshine Grammar School and College, and Dr Abdun Noor Tusher, former national debater and popular TV artiste, were present as the special guests.

Addressing the ceremony, Mahfuz Anam lauded the participants of the debates, which he termed as a journey of mind made on the wings of logics, facts and argumentation. He also called on the students for making best use of time.

Abul Momen emphasised the need for developing the practice of healthy debate and thus forming better understanding on any issue.

Khorshed Alam assured that Mutual Trust Bank will provide continued support for holding such competitions in future.

Dr Abdun Noor Tusher observed that intolerance was prevalent in society due to the absence of practice of logics.

"Our people appear to have developed a habit of accepting anything without asking any question," he said. "We will have to judge anything with logics and keep in mind that our fight would be against poverty and for the development of the nation."

Drishty Organising Secretary Adnan Mannan conducted the ceremony where Drishty President Masud Bakul and General Secretary Saif Chowdhury were also present.

In the final debate, William Carey Academy spoke for the motion 'The house believes that Bangladesh should export gas for the sake of economic development'.

Radiant School became the second runners-up defeating Oxbridge International School.

Nafisa Iqbal of Radiant School was adjudged the 2nd runner-up best debater.

Six of the best debaters took part in the Best Speakers Round.

In the debate with the topic 'Is UNO Successful to keep peace in the world', Gopal Biswas of Summer Fields represented Russia.

Maliha Ahmed of Bay View School and Zuhair Mehtab Ali of Oxbridge International School were the runners-up. They represented Iran and Canada respectively.

Segufta of William Child Heaven represented Bangladesh, Nafisa Iqbal of Radiant School spoke for India and Farah Iqbal of William Carey for Malaysia to win special awards.

Former Debater Dr Masud Rana of University of Science and Technology, Chittagong, Sadat Zaman Khan and Saif Hossain, both are the lecturers of Premier University, were the judges in all the three rounds.