Feature

A Debate Competition held in
Presidency International School

Chowdhury Reza

A three-day debate competition under the headline “Annual Parliamentary English Debating Competition '09” was held on 25th, 26th and 27th October in Presidency International School, Chittagong. The competition was held in a "knockout pattern". 36 debaters took part in the competition. The debaters were divided into 6 groups named Champa, Chameli, Sheuli, Shefali, Tagor and Bakul. On 25th October the competition was inaugurated by PIS Principal Lt. Col (Rtd) Md. Ziauddin;B.U. 3 sessions were held on the 1st day. Rudhana Tasmin,Susana Siffat Salim and Sadman Mansur were judged the best speakers on the 1st day.

The 2nd day, 26th October was the semi-final round held in 2 sessions. In the 1st session Champa and Tagor debated on the topic 'Industrialization is the only solution for a developing country to be developed' which was presided by Principal Mrs. Nadira Banu Begum of Bangladesh Elementary School, Chittagong as the speaker. The topic for the 2nd session was 'Mobile phones have become a fashion or a matter of status rather than its pragmatic use'. Prof. A.M.M. Mujibur Rahman of Dept. of English, Chittagong College, Chittagong chaired the session in which Sheuli and Shefali spoke respectively as the treasury bench and the opposition bench member. In this round, Sadman Mansur and Bibi Ayesha were adjudged as the best speakers. While presiding over the 1st session, Principal Nadira Banu stressed on practising debate in school and college life as it is the best stage to groom up the debaters for future. Prof. Mujibur Rahman talked highly about the exuberance of debating culture in PIS. He also observed equal thrill and vibration among the teams. He inspired the debaters to initiate the 'change' with the power of words and with the light of logic and reasoning power.

27th October was the final day of the competition. This day was observed with a lot of enthusiasm and vivacity. Principal Fazle Aleem of Chittagong International School chaired the session as the speaker. Sheuli and Champa competed on the topic “Corruption is the only obstacle to the path of development of a country". Team Champa was led by Ismail Bin Azim and Team Sheuli was led by Hisham, Md. Siddique.

Principal Fazle Aleem spoke on the topic and appreciated PIS for the initiation. Earlier Principal of PIS, Lt Col. (Rtd.) Md. Ziauddin offered crest to the speaker and honorable chairman of PIS delivered his welcome speech. In his speech the chairman focused highly on the importance of promoting debating culture and expected that PIS can be a focal ground of nourishing debating culture. In the final debate Champa became champion losing to Sheuli with a very marginal difference. Hisham from the runner-up team was adjudged as the best speaker.

Writer is a Joint Debate Secretary at Drishty, Chittagong

IBA to inject more
excitement
in Battle of Minds

SINCE the inception of Battle of Minds in 2004, the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) has participated in the first three competitions and became consecutive champions in all three occasions.

IBA was unable to participate in 2007 and 2008 due to administrative and procedural issues, one of them being the BATB administered selection process of teams to which IBA did not agree to. However, after much speculation, IBA once again is going to participate in the Battle of Minds 2009. This has been possible as BATB has agreed to make an exception only for IBA and has accepted that it is the IBA authorities which will have full control over the selection process of teams representing IBA in the competition.

Although as per article titled 'Battle of Minds road shows roll on' published in the Star Campus issue of November 1, 2009, BATB did organize a road show and on its own initiated a selection session in the the IBA campus on October 22, 2009 that selection now stands invalid . The internal process of selecting participants already has been initiated by IBA.

Return of IBA to Battle of Minds will hopefully inject further excitement to the competition. Whether IBA will be able to continue the winning streak after the two year break, remains to be seen.