Feature
Mutual Trust Bank-The Daily Star Debate Contest and Festival 2010
Go for your dreams -
Raise your voice
Mottakin Chowdhury
 NONSENSICAL disputes are creating great chaos in our society and state. Only well-constructed notions of logic and thought can show us the way towards truth and triumph and assist us to reach the zenith of our dreams. Scores of years ago, a movement in favour of logic started in our country. The organisation that has been performing the supreme role to spread the light of logic and establish debate as a part of education and culture for the last eighteen years is Drishty Chittagong, the pioneer and leading socio-cultural association in Bangladesh. Since its formation in 1992, Drishty Chittagong has been arranging many debate workshops, competitions and festivals. Consequently, this year Drishty has orchestrated Mutual Trust Bank-The Daily Star Debate Contest and 4th Debate Festival 2010 where 18th Inter School, 10th Inter College and 8th Inter Varsity National Debate Championships were included. The whole programme continued from 25 June to 2 July in Zilla Shilpakala Academy with spontaneous participation from a huge number of students and debaters from all over the country.
Debate Workshop
The programme was instigated with a debate workshop on 25 June in the auditorium of Regional Administration Training Centre. In this workshop, all the debaters were trained on the particular rules and regulations of parliamentary debate. They also enjoyed classes on Educational System, Democracy,Politics, Economics and Media which helped them cope with their motions for debates.Trainers were Adnan Mannan, Saber Shah, Saifuddin Munna, Masud Bakul, Jewel CHowdhury. A model debate was held where Saber Shah, Saifuddin Munna, Junayed Ahmed,Sayeed Hossain, Mottakin Chowdhury, Priyom Das took part.
Inauguration of the Contest
It was on 28 June when the inaugural ceremony of Drishty debate contest was held in Shilpakala Auditorium. The ceremony started at 10 am. Mr Shahnoor Wahid, Editor, Star Campus was the Chief Guest. The ceremony was chaired by Drishty President, Mr. Masud Bakul and moderated by Mr. Adnan Mannan, Joint Secretary, Drishty.
School Debate
After the opening function, more than 18 debates of first round of school debate championship was held. The teams which jumped into this war of words with determination were Chittagong Govt. High School, Chittagong Ideal School, Dr. Khastagir Govt. Girls' High School, Chittagong Govt. Girls' High School, Nasirabad Govt.
High School, Krishnokumari City Corporation School, Aparnacharan City Corporation School, Silver Bells Girls' High School, Collegiate School (Day & Morning), BAWA School, Imaratunnesa City Corporation School, Kapashgola City Corporation School, Bakalia Govt. Laboratory School, Govt. Muslim High School, State Quest School, Ispahani Public School, Chittagong Cantonment Public School, B A F Shaheen School, Aunkur Society School and Saint Placid's School. After an amazing conflict of logic, eight of the teams could move to the 2nd round.
 College Debate
It was on June 29 when the 10th Inter College Debate Tournament was also held in the same venue. 10 colleges from the city involved themselves in the challenge. The participating colleges were Chittagong College, Hazi Muhammad Mohsin College, Govt. City College, Chittagong Commerce College, Chittagong Women College, BAF Shaheen College, Cantonment Public College.
Showing a magnificent fight of words and rebuttals, Ctg College and Mohsin College reached the finale.
The second semi final rounds of school debate were also held on that day. Silver Bells Girls High School and Ispahani Public School qualified to the finale respectively knocking out Chittagong Collegiate School (morning) and BAWA School.
University Debate
The 8th National Inter Varsity Debate Championship took place on 30 June where 18 teams from 13 universities of Dhaka and Chittagong gathered amidst immense enthusiasm. Dhaka University - Group of Debaters(GOD), Chittagong University (Jhupri), Chittagong University (Shuttle Train), North South University (NSU), Jahangirnagar University (JUDO), Premier University (Shuvro), Premier University (Avro), International Islamic University (Shotto), International Islamic University (Jukti), University of Science and Technology (Apollo), University of Science and Technology (Orpheus), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Prantik), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Dandik), Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology -1, Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology-2, Stamford University, Chittagong University (BSD) and Chittagong University (SLP), were the universities that showcased their immense talents.
After rounds of debates of logic and refutation, DU-GOD, BUET-Dandik, BUET-Prantik and Stamford University proved themselves as semi finalists. Dhaka University-Group Of Debaters and BUET-Prantik sailed to the finale.
The Debate Festival: Day 1
July 1 was certainly a noteworthy day for the debate lovers of Chittagong as they witnessed a national debate festival in their own city. The festival was entitled 'Mutual Trust Bank-The Daily Star 4th Debate Festival 2010'. Drishty was successfully able to gather debaters from so many institutions through the festival which can be regarded as a milestone for the organization.
The launching ceremony of the festival was adorned by the presence of Mr. Sayed Ahsanul Alam Parvez, Head of Marketing Department, CU. Drishty President, Mr. Masud Bakul, General Secretary, Saif Chowdhury and Joint Secretary, Mr. Adnan Mannan were also present in the ceremony.
The inauguration was followed by the final round of school debate where Silver Bells Girls' High School spoke against the opposition Ispahani Public School and College in favour of the motion 'THBT Indian movies are creating a bad influence over us'.
 The Debate Festival: Day 2
The second day of the festival commenced with Baroari Debate where debaters from schools showed their competence with great excellence. The final round of Varsity Debate was held in the auditorium. In this significant debate, DU-GOD supported the motion 'This house believes that Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is not acceptable for Bangladesh' against BUET-Prantik.
With the end of the final round of the debate championship, spectators of the festival enjoyed some more model debates. Gracing the occasion were Mr. Adnan Mannan, (Best debater, TV debate 2005 &Lecturer, CU), Mr. Mahfuz Mishu, Joint Secretary, Bangladesh Debate Federation, Mr. Shamim Al Amin(Debater and reporter, Channel1) and Mr. Monir Hossen,(Former president,SDF). On the other side, Leaders-Actors Debate was adorned with the presence of Mr. Abdullah Al Noman, Former Minister of Bangladesh Government, Mr. M A Salam, Politician, Aoami League, Mr. Ashok Shaha, Poltician, Bangladesh Communist Party and Jhuna Chowdhury,Rafikullah Selim, Shah Alam Dulal.
The following judges were there to judge the performance of the participants: Adnan Mannan, Mahfuz Mishu, Shamim Al Amin, Monir Hosen, Mominur Rahman, Irfan Newaz Khan, Nasrin Zahan Bobby, Reza Chowdhury, Rashedul Amin, Saifuddin Munna, Motiur Rahman, Afsana Toma, Saber Shah, Badruddoza Jewel, Jewel Chowdhury, Sakib Hasan, Tabassum Mokhduma, Borhan Shaon,Shahidul Islam,Mujibur Rahman, Priyom Das, Tanmay Chowdhury, Partha Sharothi Barua, Urmi Acharjee and Junaid Chowdhury.
The Closing Ceremony: End of the Festival
It was almost evening when the closing ceremony began. Mr. Abdul Mannan, (Former VC,Chittagong University) was the Chief Guest. Professor Syed Ahsanul Alam Parvez, Mrs Safia Gazi Rahman, Chairman, Drishty Debate Club, Mr. Saif Chowdhury, General Secretary, Drishty, Mr. Masud Bakul, Drishty President were also present in the assembly.
The results were finally announced. In school debate, Silver Bells School grabbed the title. Ctg Collegiate School (Morning) conquered third position defeating BAWA School. In college debate, Chittagong College grabbed the crown of glory knocking out Hazi Muhammad Mohsin College. On the other hand, DU-GOD became the national champions demolishing BUET-Prantik. The best debaters of these three levels are Fatema Imroj and Junayed Mufrad (Silver Bells and Ispahani School), Mottakin Chowdhury (Ctg. College) and Nazmul Abhi (DU-GOD). Respectable guests gave away trophies to the champion and runner up teams.
After the closing ceremony, BAWA School, Ispahani School and Ideal School staged cultural functions. Finally, Drishty declared its award to best organizer that went to Saber Shah and Saifuddin Munna. Thus the programme born of big dreams and great expectations came to a successful end.
(Mottakin Chowdhury, Debater and Member, Drishty Chittagong.)
|
