Seminar

IFAD IUB Inter-Varsity Debating
Championship 2011

Tahmina Bintey Ahmed

Courtesy : IUB

Debating is probably one of the best learning tools that you could possibly have. No matter what profession you choose, you will need to know how to debate. Even for an entrepreneur, advertisements are nothing more than a form of debate with competitors. Constructive disagreement is classified as a serious skill, one that few truly possess. Groups of people with varying perspectives, experiences and ideas are time after time found to be more effective at solving problems than groups of homogeneous experts.

Independent University Bangladesh Debate Club (IUBDC) organised a three-day inter-varsity debate tournament, titled the 'IFAD IUB Inter-Varsity Debating Championship 2011,' which began last Friday with 24 university teams. A total of 66 debaters from IBA, IUT, BUET, NSU, UIU and IUB took part in the tournament that was sponsored by the IFAD group.

“Debate is one of the most powerful learning tools. To me, debates do not imply anger or personal attacks, but rather passionate and civil discussions on issues that concern us all,” stressed the University's Vice Chancellor, Professor M. Omar Rahman, chief guest at the launching ceremony. “The objective of debate is to create a rational society where all would be able to exercise free thinking. With this objective in mind, we organised this event and we hope debaters of this tournament will advance this process.” He added.

The campus bore a festive look while teachers and students from different departments also participated in the programme. Dr. M. Omar Rahman, Vice Chancellor In-charge, Shaiful Islam, Moderator and Ipshitt Tarafdar, Convenor IUB IV, President IUBDC were present, delivering their respective speeches.

The club provided workshops on Asians format debating practices and all the rules that the Asian format debating follows. The committee comprises of students under the moderation of Mr. Shaiful Islam, Lecturer at the Department of English at IUB.

The motion of the semifinal was West should arm Burmese militia and for the final was form an ethical commission with legal enforcement authority for violation of ethical conducts by politicians.

The finale was held on April 24 at Multi Purpose Hall, IUB campus. The teams who won their way to the final round were NSU 3 and NSU 1. Nabil Azad Chowdhury, Jasia Haider and Naveed Adnan represented NSU 3 while Faria Ahmed, Javed Adnan, Kaiser Kabir represented NSU 1.

Dr M. Omar Rahman, Vice Chancellor In-charge, Mr Taskeen Ahmed, DMD IFAD Group, all top IUB management and faculty were Chief Guests in the final round.

The competition was adjudicated by a panel of seven judges who elected the teams on ballot. 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 tournament used TABIT (BDC tabteam) to run the software that determines the matchups of the teams. Tanvir Hafiz was the leading Tab Director of the tournament.

After the most exciting and thrilling final round, NSU3 became the conqueror. Nabil Azad Chowdhury, Jasia Haider and Naveed Adnan are the people who had been constantly on their toes throughout the tournament. Best Speaker of the Final was Kasier Kabir. The media partner of the event was “The Independent”.

Such kinds of competitions can be a strong platform for the young creative thinkers to approach collectively and split knowledge. These types of healthy competitions not only encourage the young students, but also unveil the best thinkers in the country, in turn prompting others to move forward.