Shimla: Lively debates on some of the hottest topics in the country are to be held over four days, with some of the top schools in the country competing at the Slater Debates competition that opened up at Bishop Cotton School (BCS) today.
Giving details about the competition, Roy Christopher Robinson, headmaster BCS said, “the format of the debates was set on the Cambridge Pattern (three speakers for, and three speakers against,), to generate a healthy debate on certain prevalent issues faced by our country.
“As many as nineteen topics were placed before the participants, from abstract to the topical and the result was a revealing relevance of the topics in the lives of children,” he added.
Some of the topics up for a hot debate this time around are – Contemporary values are not in consonance with Indian culture; Foreign Universities in India will make a difference; Young people should be subjected to night time curfew; The law cultivates and creates terrorists; Social networking sites have destroyed the quality of life among human beings; The no detention policy up to the secondary school level has caused more harm than good; Media makes heroes out of nobodies; Corruption is here to stay in India; Pakistan can be a safe democracy; RTE – An empty promise; and The Anna Hazare movement was just a flash in the pan.
The 16 schools participating are – Frank Anthony Public School, Delhi; Cathedral And John Connon, Mumbai; Dubai Modern High School; La Martiniere Boys, Kolkata; Loreto House School, Kolkata; Mayo College for Girls, Ajmer; Auckland House School, Shimla; St. James School, Kolkata; The Assam Valley School, Assam; The Doon School, Dehradun; The Lawrence School, Sanawar; The Vasant Valley School, New Delhi; La Martiniere College, Lucknow; The Sri Ram School, Gurgaon; Modern High School for Girls, Kolkata and hosts Bishop Cotton School, Shimla.
The Dr. Samuel Slater Memorial Invitational Inter-school English Debates were started in 1996 and are named after the first headmaster of BCS, a school that was founded in 1858.
While the inaugural two debates were won by Doon School, Dehradun, the last two in 2010 and 2011 were won by La Martiniere Boys’ School, Kolkata.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
