::: Star Campus :::

Spotlight

TRUST BANK 5TH NDF BD NATIONAL DEBATE FESTIVAL 2010
Dream came true..

A K M Shoaib,Mosaddek Hossain ,Shamarukh Mahjabin

Dream came true for us on 30 and 31 January when the TRUST BANK 5TH NDF BD NATIONAL DEBATE FESTIVAL 2010 was held at Bangladesh Shishu Academy. For debate lovers there can surely be no greater treat than to wander through the sunlit gathering of so many stars from all over the country; with 1500 participants representing 135 schools, 52 universities, 10 madrasas, 18 medical colleges and 12 open debate clubs.

One of the primary aims of the festival was to promote education, inspire wider participation by students to enrich the art of debating through exploration of new ideas and innovation.

Early in the morning..
The opening ceremony was held at 10am. Finance Minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhit was the chief guest of the programme while Prof. Arefin Siddiqi, Vice Chancellor , Dhaka University, Shah A Sarwar, Managing Director, Trust bank (the title sponsor), Farhadul Reza Probal and Md Sabur Khan, Chairman DIU were special guests.

Launching the festival finance minister said that it was important to practice debating in every sphere of life to reach the zenith of success. He also recalled his involvement and participation in debating while in school, college and university. Shah A Sarwar, who himself was a national award winning debater as a student of DU, said that once upon a time debating used to be considered a non glamorous activity, now not only debate educates but also entertains. He appreciated the work of NDF BD for popularising debate across the country. He expressed his willingness to be with us in every possible way and said that he would include NDF BD in his yearly calendar of social corporate responsibility A K M Shoaib, Chairman NDF BD became nostalgic and said that debate should be practiced and patronized by all at every sector to create a society based on logic and reason.

The festival launch was preceded by a colorful rally across the roads of Dhaka University, starting from Shishu Academy and ending at the National Press Club.

Lifetime achievement...
Prof. Sirajul Islam Chowdhury was honored with a lifetime achievement award for his lifelong contribution to debating and teaching.

Countdown begins..
Ten different show-debates were arranged for the debate lovers who came from all over the country.

It started with the NDF BD model debate “Aj jashne ghorer bahire” participated by Ahnaf of Residential Model School, Arun of St. Joseph School, Rafi and Sakib of St Gregory’s High School, Rabbi of Kushtia Zila School, Britto of Motijhil Ideal School and College.

Global Model Debate was the exclusive attraction where participants included Osman (Kashmir), Rajiv (Nepal), Saif (Philistine), Hiroiki (Japan), Zaffer ( USA) and Falguni (Bangladesh). Each participant tried to emphasise that “amar deshei pabe tumi tomar moner manush”. All of them were applauded with claps as all of them had never seen such a big gathering to prove themselves the best match for Bangladesh!

Gales of laughter greeted the participants of funny debate. Rupok-RU, Mumu-SSMC, Ratul-AIUB, Manosh-NSTU, Raisul-DIU and Shutopa-Eden who debated on “Shoundorjo noy prachurjo e valobashar shesh thikana”. This debate was moderated by Majed Azad.

It is worth mentioning that there was a medical emergency when someone from the audience had actually believed that the soul of Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, Saddam Hossain, Nur Hossain, Lalon Shai, Princess Diana and Benzir Bhutto truly came on stage to announce “ami tomader e lok”. It took some effort to convince the girl that it was just a Planchet model debate. The mind blowing debate was performed by Junayed-IIUC, Imran-BM College, Ishtiaque-IIUT, Ishat-DIU, Najia-Eden Womens’ College, Rasna SSMC.

Parliamentary debate on “Aguner din anbe shudin” was participated by Scizar-RU, Irteja-JU, Jayonto-DIU, Tuli-Motijheel Ideal College, Jui-KUET, Fahad-Kushtia Govt. College. After the debate the reaction of the audience showed that they agreed with the arguments of both government and opposition side.

“The house would recognize poverty as the main cause of digital divide” was the topic on which Shegufta and Bushra of Manarat Int. school, Ishrakul Islam of Bangladesh Int. school, Sakib of St. Joseph School, Sajid and Zefrun of Aga Khan School, Sangma of Oxford Int. School and Aninda of Dhanmondi Tutorial gave their arguments.

Peshajibi bitorko on “Amar kormei ami alokito” was another crowd-pulling show-debate by Akram, Kajal, Naim, Mimtin Nur, Naila, Raisa from AIUB, Carmichael College, DIU, NSTU, SMC and AIUB respectively depicted the role of a politician, police, canvasser, garments worker, doctor, heroine respectively.

Teacher-Student model debate was highly enjoyed too when Chowdhuri Golam Mawla-lecturer, Int. Islamic University Ctg, DR Kudrat A Elahi, Lecturer, RMC. Fatema Jemaima Rahman, Head Mistress, Bangladesh Int. School faced Dip-SHSMC, Taniya and Rudaba Nowsin from Eden College on the students side. Each side tried to establish “Kul vengeche amar tir a , tomar tir a noy”.

Media Debate on “chokher bhasha moner bhasha noy” was performed by media personalities. Harun Ur Rashid, Ekushe TV. Borhanul Haque, Desh TV were on one side and on the other side were M S Rana, The Daily Kaler Kontho and Kaiyum RU Journalist association. This debate was moderated by Syed Ishtiaq Reza, Head of news, Baishakhi TV.

“Amay keno daoni tomar shokol ujar kore? ” Srishti-Sroshta debate was another long awaited debate where Rajiv Sarkar and Kuasha Paul played Rabindranath Tagore and his creation Labonno. Uttom Roy, Antora Biswas, Mosaddek Hossain and Shama debated in the role of Sharat Chandra, Parwati, Jibonanondo and Bonolota Sen.

The longest public speaking competition was held with a total of 89 participants on “chokher taray shopno bhashe…” and in English on “There is no alternative…”.

Serve the humanity:
NRBB-debaters' network for life..
NDF BD announced its new wing NRBB (National debate federation running blood bank). Outside the auditorium there was NRBB stall recruiting new members and they also organised a blood grouping program. About 500 people came to know about their blood group for the very first time and a thousand became new members who gave commitment to donate blood when necessary. NRBB organizers of Holy Family Red Crescent Medical College were Subir, Pulok, Osman, Fahim, Galib, Abdullah, Rajnikant, Saimun, Anika, Rafsan, Rajiv, Daliya, Sakiba, Fahmin. Every member was given a membership card containing indications, contra indications, logical motivation of blood donation and helpline where they can contact to get blood donors during an emergency. Ashik and Shama have done all the ground work for this, so special thanks to them.

Ratiner jonno bhalobasha..
Students from Dhaka Medical College collected money for ten year old Ratin who is suffering from cancer.

She was not insane!!
A girl started to clean up the premises. Everybody thought she was crazy.

But to our surprise, we came to know that she was doing this for creating public awareness regarding cleanliness! And the second day she found that her effort worked out and this time dustbins were full with no garbage in the bins. Thanks are due to Oxford Int. School for this lesson.

After dawn..
On day one students from all over the country displayed their talents at the cultural night event and after that the long-awaited camp fire was held outside the auditorium where Rony from DIU and Bappa from Stamford University displayed their extraordinary firework. They were named Dragon Man and Fire Man by the audience.

On day two cultural night, popular singers Haidar Hossain and Ronty Das took the floor and rocked the audience with songs. The cultural night was sponsored by Janata Jute Mills.

For the Raffel Draw first prize was a 21” color TV sponsored by Panna Group.

Guests at the closing ceremony:
Prof. Mozaffar Ahmed (president Shusashon er Jonnay Nagorik) Prof.Dr. Abul Barakat, chairman Janata Bank, Mr.Istiaque Ahmed, deputy managing director Eemmanuel ITIE (RESEARCH & DEVELOPEMENT SOL'S), Mossadek Hossain, secretary general - NDF BD. The programme was presided over by AKM Shoaib, chairman NDF BD. Both the closing and opening ceremonies were conducted by director general of NDF BD Safayet Hossain.

A tribute to the collective effort..
Best School-Ideal School and College, Foundation School (acc to performance), Kushtia Zila School, Special Award- Mukul Academy-Sherpur, Blue Bird Int. School-sylhet.

Best College- Eden Women’s College, Residential Model College, BM College, Barisal.
Best University-Daffodil Int. University, AIUB, RU, NSTU.
Best Madrasa- Jannatul Bania Mohila Madrasa.
Best Medical College-Holy Family Red Crescent Medical College, Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College.

Award to the future leaders..
NDF BD awarded those who showed promise as future leaders who demonstrate a commitment to developing and spreading the light of logic throughout the country. The future leaders are Bappa-Stamford University, Ishat and Shagor-DIU, Irteza-JU, Istiaque-IUT, Dip-SHSMC, Shama- HFRCMC,

Best organizers:
Dulal-Rangpur Debate Federation (RDF), Uttom-DU, Sumon-Gazipur, Auvi-AIUB, Rafel-AIUB, Shutopa,Shaon,Sharmeen,Nazia, Shathi and Mithi-Eden College, Safa-SHSMC, Sanjay-DIU, Arif-SKB, Jayanto-Dhaka, Fahad-Kushtia Govt. College, Masum-Lakshmipur, Sajib-MUKM, Amirul Millat-Dhaka, Rabbi-Kushtia Zila School, Shawkat-Barishal, Nur A Siddiqui-Dinajpur, Shubhro-ICMA, Palash-BIU, Yen-NSTU.

National award winners..
For their devotion and real commitment Fazle Elahi- Global Village, Rangamati, Kudrat A Elahi-RMC, Mazed Azad-Lakshmipur, Mahadi-Dhaka, Rudaba-Eden College, Bipasha-Home Economics College, Asaduzzaman Asad-NSTU, Rafiul Islam (AIUB), Rupok-Kishorganj, Rabiul Islam-Kushtia, Nazmul Huda-KU, Shahed Imran- KYAMC, Scizer-RU were given the crest. Congratulations to them.

Sponsors..
Shah A Sarwar, Managing Director, Trust Bank; Faridur Reza Sagar, Managing Director, Channel I; Naimul Islam Khan, Editor, Amader Shomoy; Kabir F Ashraf Alam, Additional Secretary, People's Republic of Bangladesh; S M Khaleed, Managing Director, Snow Tex; Md Yusuf Khan, Director, Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College; Mr Mamun, Director, Impress Group; Sabur Khan, Daffodil Int. University; Shahedul Islam Helal, President, Bangladesh Chamber of Industries; Shahidul Islam Sachchu, Programme Manager, Channel I; Muniruddin Ahmed, Bengal Export Group; Benson Group; Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs; Mahfuzur Rahman, Director General, Bangladesh Computer Council; Janata Jute Mill; Alpine; Dhaka Ice Cream; Nescafe. Without their support this festival would not have been possible .

Nostalgia…
Many became nostalgic as the two-day long programme came to close on the last day. Mosaddek Hossain became emotional when he saw people especially non debaters enjoying debate on the screen placed outside the auditorium. Successful hosting of the 5th festival brought with it a stronger commitment towards establishing logic over emotion, humanity over selfishness.