JOSEPH VARGHESE

DOHA DPS-MIS won the 5th Qatar National Debate Championship for English schools organised by Qatar Debate Center recently.

Safa Kashaf from Park House English School won the best speaker award. The tournament held at Qatar Academy hosted 44 teams representing 25 schools.

Carolyn Clark, public affairs officer, US Embassy; Michael Hitchman, principal of Qatar Academy Senior School; and Kelley Bieringer, head of English Programme, QatarDebate Center; distributed trophies and certificates to the winners.

Qatar Academy won the second position while Al Arqam Academy got the third position.

Fourth place went to the second team from Qatar Academy and fifth place was won by Park House English School. Other than the best speaker Akshaya Rajangam, Park House; Majed al Ansari, Park House; Abdullah al Shakarchi, Qatar Academy; Paul Ilori, Qatar Academy; Shaden Sowan, Qatar Academy; Wessam Kanes, Qatar Academy; Shakeer Ahmed, Qatar Academy; Jonathan Coutino, Doha College; Mustafa el Mumin, Doha College; Vatsal Patel, DPS Modern Indian School; Leen Walid Abdel Qader, Amna Bint Wahab ISSG; Farah Khan, DPS Modern Indian School; Sreekumar Ravindrakumar, MES Indian School; Samira Ahmed, Al Arqam Academy; Fatima Shameema, Newton International School Lagoon; Rajvardhan Singh, DPS Modern Indian School; Vane Swrtah, DPS Modern Indian School; Jack Caton, Qatar Academy; Karishma Ramesh, Birla Public School; and Bassam Helal, Debakey High School; won the positions from two to 20 respectively.

Speaking on the occasion, Bieringer said that National Debate Championship was getting bigger and better each year. She pointed out, “It is obvious how many students have been debating for the past few years and how much the quality of the debates improved because of this.

Their advance research, preparation and hard work have come through in their speeches which have made it a highly successful competition in Qatar.” Bieringer also stated that the grand finale of the debate was an incredible intellectual battle between both the teams and praised the courage of the students to argue and debate in front of a large crowd.

The participating schools were Al Arqam Academy, Al Bayan Educational Complex for Girls, Al Jazeera Academy, Al Resala ISSG, Al Shahaniya ISSG, Al Wakra ISSB, Ali Bin Jassim ISSB, Amna Bint Wahab ISSG, Arwa Bint Abdul Mutaleb ISSG, Birla Public School, Cambridge International School for Girls, Debakey High School for Health Professions-Qatar, Doha College, DPS-Modern Indian School, MES Indian School, Newton International School Lagoon, Omar Bin Abdul Aziz ISSB, Omar Bin Al Khattab Independent Secondary Scientific School for Boys, Pakistan Education Centre, Park House English School, Qatar Academy, Qatar International School, Raba’a Al Adawiya ISSG, Rawda Bint Jassim ISSG and Tareq Bin Ziyad ISSB.

Total number of debaters was 132 and the total number of judges was 67 — who received intensive training by Qatar- Debate Center trainers. The topics of the competition were ‘The state should pay parents to stay at home’, ‘The national treasures should be returned to countries of origin’, ‘Refuse to negotiate with kidnappers and hijackers’ and ‘PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) should only accept vegetarians as members’.

Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Clark, deputy commander at the Area Support Group-Qatar and Dr Abed Naji K al Sameai, head of Arabic Programme, QatarDebate Center, were also present on the occasion.