Feature

War of Logic in Chittagong
Mutual Trust Bank - The Daily Star Debate Contest 2007

Adnan Mannan

Some people say The world has lost its glory. But some people still dream and say - We have something more to expect. These expectations and frustrations were boldly expressed by the debaters in Mutual Trust Bank-The Daily Star Debate Contest 2007 at Chittagong. Drishty - a socio cultural organization organized this 5-day 15th Inter School, 7th Inter College, and 4th Inter University debate contest. 32 educational institutions of the port city took part in this Parliamentary Bangla Debate contest.

The competition was inaugurated on 24th July. Mr. Mahfuz Anam, Editor, The Daily Star was the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony. Abul Momen (Resident Editor, Prothom Alo) Khorshedul Alam (AVP, Mutual Trust Bank), Professor Syed Ahsanul Alam Parvez (Chairman, Center for Good Governance) were present as special guests. Safia Rahman, Chairman, Drishty Debate Club presided over the session. Masud Bakul, President, Drishty Ctg. Presented the welcome speech and Kashsaful Haque Shehjad gave the vote of thanks.

Drishty, Ctg. organizes Inter School, College ,University Bangla and English Debate competition, Debate Festival, Debate workshop, Maths Olympiad, Recitation programme, quiz contest and puppet show for the students every year. The Daily Star is the title sponsor of the debate competition for last five years.

“The house believes, reformation of political parties can ensure election of perfect candidates” was the topic of the inaugural debate. In the first round of School Debate Contest, Chittagong Government Girls High School defeated Central Public School; Dr. Khastagir Govt. Girls School defeated State Coast School, and Collegiate School defeated Govt. Muslim High School while B.N. School became the winner against Ispahani Public School. Saint Placid School defeated Nasirabad Boys School. Silver Bells Girls School, BAWA School and Krishna Kumari City Corp. School were the other winners. Gunjan Barua (Collegiate), Jannatul Raihan (Govt. Girls), Mumtahina Monir (Silver Bells), Fahrima Sultana (BAWA), Salman Haider (St. Placid), Ragib Ahsan (B.N), Moumita Dev (Khastagir) were judged the best debaters.

The topics of various debates in the competitions were based on current affairs, good governance, corruption and political reformation.

The quarter final round of school debate was held on 25 July. Collegiate School, Chittagong Govt. Girls School, Silver Bells School and B. N. School were the winners.

Hazi Mohammad Mohsin College defeated B.N College in the First round of Inter College Debate contest. Govt. City College defeated Chittagong Govt. Girls College. Ispahani Public College was the winner against Metropolitan Commerce College. Chittagong College became winner in other debate. Saber Shah ( Mohsin College), Muntahin Anowar (Ispahani), Saifuddin Munna (City College) were judged the best debaters. Mohsin College and Govt. City College reached the final round after the semifinal. “The house believes, Caretaker Government is a misconcept for Bangladesh” was the topic of semifinal round.

But the debate sessions at the university level were less lively due to lack of skilled debaters. “The House believes, Presidential Government system is more suitable for us” was the topic of opening debate. In this session, Chittagong University defeated Independent University Bangladesh. “The House believes, Private Universities are creating discrimination in our education sector” was the topic of second debate. In this lively debate, University of Science & Technology Chittagong (USTC) defeated Premier University. CUET and BGC Trust University were also the winners in other sessions. Jayasree Das (USTC), Mashreka Binte Shams (CU) and Shah e Arefin (CUET) became the best debaters.

USTC lost to CUET and Chittagong University defeated BGC Trust University in the Semifinal round.

Dr. Sudip Ranjan Dev (Best debater, TV Debate'96), Adnan Mannan (Joint Secretary, Drishty), Advocate Saiful Abedin, Masud Bakul (President, Drishty) were the speakers at different parliamentary sessions. Noman Siddiqi, Nazmul Ahmed, Urmee Acharia, Masudur Rahman, Nafisa Sarowar conducted different sessions.

The following persons participated as judges at various rounds : Dr. Masud Rana , Prof. Uditi Das, Prof. Nilufar Akter, Pradip Dewanji (Journalist, Daily Azadi), Omar Kaiser (Bureau Chief, Vorer Kagoj), Shahidul Islam Bacchu (Bureau Chief, Daily Star), Advocate Mili Chowdhury, Prof. Tahurin Sabur, Jinnah Chowdhury, Md. Sohel (USTC), Rashedul Islam (BUETDC), Afsana Toma (Premier University), Faisal Rabbi (CUETDC), Jayasree Das (USTCDC) and Shahidul Islam.

The Final round was held on 28th July. A large number of students, teachers and guardians attended the programme proving how popular debate was in Chittagong. Chittagong Collegiate School became the Champion and Silver Bells School was declared the Runner Up of Final round.

“This house believes, International Terrorism is the greatest threat for the world at this moment”-was the topic of the final round of College debate. Mohsin College defeated Govt. City College. Urmi Atandrila was the best speaker. Saber Shah, Urmi Rahman and Urmi Atandrila were the debaters of Mohsin College. Saifuddin Munna, Proggya Banarjee and Joya Dutta were in the City College team.

At the university level “The house believes, let's cover the eyes of Aparajeyo Bangla with black ribbons” was the proposal. CUET became the Champion and Chittagong University the Runner Up. In the prize giving ceremony, Samson H Chowdhury, Chairman, Mutual Trust Bank and Square group was the chief guest. Syed Manzur Elahi, Former Advisor, Caretaker Government was the guest of honor. Abul Momen, Resident Editor, Prothom Alo presided over the meeting. Masud Bakul, President, Drishty and Rashedul Amin, Vice President Drishty also spoke on the occasion.

Drishty wants to establish an enlightened society. Debate is the best media to achieve that goal. The debate contest once again proved that our new generation is ready to take up the challenges. Mutual Trust Bank-The Daily Star Debate contest has taken our new generation one step ahead towards the golden days.

(The writer is Joint Secretary, Bangladesh Debate Federation)