Feature

DEBATE - to some, this word is not appealing at all; however, to those who are acquainted with the true sprit of debating or those who know what a debater feels whilst debating, this word holds an entirely new dimension. It not only enhances our ability of reasoning, but at the same time, helps us to develop our skills in public speaking. In this modern era, a gift of eloquence is something that everyone desires, and debate is a mode through which we can actually master the former skill.

In South Breeze, we have many clubs among which there is the debate club. However, our school had never taken part in any tournament until this year. This year, we have participated in two of the best debate championships, the “Freshgel NSU debate Festival 2009”, hosted by NSU, and the “6th BDC Maple Leaf Pre- world Schools Debating Championships Bangladesh 2009”, hosted by Maple Leaf International School.

The Freshgel NSU debate festival 2009 was the first debate tournament in which we took part. The tournament was well organized. It was fair, flawless and fabulous. Being new debaters, my team and I were rahter nervous. My team comprised of three members, Rakin Hasan, Indira Rahman and myself. However, once we stepped on to the podium, all the nervousness evaporated. We achieved victory against schools such as Scholasica, Cider and UT. However, we could not qualify to the semi-finals by a very small margin. Nevertheless, we were very satisfied by our performances since we were ranked 5th in the very first tournament of our lives.

NSU also arranged a workshop for us, which was conducted by Mr. Loke Wing Fatt, the founder of “Singapore association of Inter-tertiary debates (SAID)”. He had come all the way from Singapore with the sole purpose of encouraging and training young debaters like us. Finally, at the end of the tournament, we had a grand dinner at the Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon. We are very grateful to NSU for organizing such an impeccable and splendid tournament.

Next was the “6th BDC Maple Leaf Pre- World Schools Debating Championships Bangladesh 2009”. It was a tournament all the young debaters at our nation looked forward to, since those who got selected had an opportunity of being a part of the BDC national camp; and in turn; those who worud be selected from the national camp held this June, would become a member of the Bangladesh debate team. Thus, they would be debating against teams from across the world in Qatar next year. None of us really thought that we would be selected for the BDC national camp since we were new to this world of debating. However to my utter surprise, I got selected for the national camp. Two of my friends, Anil Wasif and Intekhab Hossain, from the other teams of South Breeze also got selected. It was a very big achievement for us.

This year has truly has been a great one for me, as well as for my school. I would like to express my gratitude towards our principal, Ms. Zeenat Chowdhury for giving us the opportunity of competing in such wonderful tournaments, and Ms. Aneez Pasha for encouraging and believing in us. I would also like to thank all the adjudicators of the debate tournaments and last but not the least, Mr. Sinha Ibne Humayun, our debate teacher, who had actually taught us how to debate. Without their support, we would not have had achieved anything.

( A student of South Breeze School)