Event

Bringing out the Best: Sixth UIU-Mojo Debate Championship 2011

Fauzia Sultana

“Mukto koro mon, mukto koro pran” (Free your mind, free your soul) -- this was the motto of the sixth United International University - Mojo Debate Championship 2011. Champion of the ATN Bangla BSB Cambrian Projonmo Bitorko 2008, United International University (UIU) hosted the debate tournament from February 23 to 27. The debate tournament was inaugurated by Dr. M Rizwan Khan, Vice Chancellor, UIU, at the university auditorium. Mafizuddin Sharkar, Managing Director, Lanka-Bangla Finance was present at the opening ceremony as chief guest while Shafikul Islam, Head of Brand and AGM, Akij Food and Beverages was the special guest at the inauguration ceremony. Around 32 teams from 23 public and private universities, 30 teams from 16 English clubs and 18 teams from 10 colleges all across Bangladesh participated in the battle to win the title of the winner of UIU-Mojo Debate Championship 2011.

The UIU debating club was founded by Mostafa Sarwar Jewel in the year 2005. Ever since then, UIUDC has been organising and participating in the debate tournaments all across the country, entitling themselves to a number of wins with their effort and potential.

The competition began on February 23, 2011 with the Club English Debate. In total, there were 30 participating teams from 16 English Clubs which in turn were divided into smaller teams. The British Parliamentary format was followed for the Club English Debate where each team had to debate with every other team in the group. The groups were formed using Tab Software in order to maintain an unbiased selection of the teams for each group. The participating institutions were North South University, London College of Legal Studies, Brac University, IBA, BUET, Stamford, Mastermind, East West University, Independent University of Bangladesh, United International University, Rajuk College and European Standard School. The champion of Club English was NSU Club-4 from North South University and the runners-up were NSU Club-5. The chief adjudicator of the Club English Debate Competition was Suborno Barua, ex- convener, Dhaka University Debating Society.

The College Bangla Debate Competition had 10 participating colleges including Viquarunnesa College, Rifles Public College, Dhaka College, Holy Cross College, Spondon Madrasa, City College, and many more. The teams debated with one another in the knock-out rounds, fighting to secure their positions in the final. The teams who made it to the final round were Team RDS-21 from Residential Model College and Team DCDS-RNA from Dhaka College. The motion under debate in the final round was, Amra Monone Prachin, Cholone Orbachin (Not only are we traditional, but we are also backdated). Both the teams competed head-to-head, aiming towards one goal: winning the motion in question with strong and logical points. After a stirring debate session, the panel of adjudicators elected the winning team on ballot. The winner of the final competition was the Government, Team DCDS-RNA from Dhaka College who won only by a minute difference of 0.01 point.

The most exciting and thrilling event of UIU-Mojo Debate Championship 2011 was the University Bangla Debate Competition held at the auditorium, UIU. The 32 teams from 23 universities across the country participated in this tournament, making it a big hit. The participating universities included Dhaka University, UIU, Stamford University, Jahangir Nagar University, East West University, BUET, South East University, North South University, Green University, Daffodil University, Manarat University, Barisal Medical College, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Chittagong University and many more. The debate competition was analogous to the World Cup Knockout rounds. The teams were divided into eight groups namely A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H, each group having four teams. The teams of each group debated against one another in pairs. The eight group winners then debated in turn and eventually reached the semifinals. The teams that made it to the semifinals were Teams Omar Ekushey and Oporajeyo Bangla, Dhaka University, Team UIU Orange, UIU and Team JUDO from Jahangir Nagar University.

The Proud Winners.

The finale was held on February 27 at the UIU auditorium. The teams who carved their path to the final round were Teams JUDO and UIU Orange. Tasmeer Alam from the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department (EEE) of UIU who is also the general secretary of UIU Debating Club, Riyad Hossain Khan, president, UIUDC and Ariful Haque, organising secretary, who are also from EEE department, represented Team UIU Orange. The motion under debate for the final round was Moddhya Praccher Bortoman Poristhiti Shamrajjyabader Potonke Torannito Korbe (The revolution taking place in the Middle East will eliminate world wide imperialism). The competition was adjudicated by a panel of seven judges who elected the teams on ballot. After a thrilling debate session including the rebuttal round, the judges cast their votes to the respective teams on the basis of the justification of their stand, speaking ability of the debaters, promptness, etc. The winner of the University Bangla Debate Competition was team UIU Orange with a ballot score of 4 votes, while the runners-up were team JUDO with 2 votes.

The sixth UIU-Mojo Debate Championship 2011 was concluded by Professor Dr. Choudhury Mofizur Rahman, Pro-VC, UIU, by congratulating every participating team and handing out the trophies to the deserving winners. Sheikh Jamil Uddin, Manager, Akij Group of Industries was the chief guest at the finale and Lion M.K. Bashar, Chairman, BSB Foundation and Abul Kalam Azad, General Secretary, Board of Trusties, UIU were special guests.

Adiba Nasser, Farah Mahbub, Riyad Hossain Khan, Shah Mahfuzul Haque are the people who had been constantly on their toes throughout the tournament. The media partners of the event were Kaler Kontho and Ekushey Television.

Such events are strong platforms for the young minds to come together and share knowledge. Not only do these encourage healthy competition between young students, but they also bring out the best minds in the country, in turn inspiring others to do better.