By Our Staff Reporter
Mussoorie, 3 May: The Brother JG Masterson Memorial Debate Competition was held at St George’s College, here, on 2 May. As many as forty-eight participants from sixteen schools participated in this event. The opening ceremony began with the welcome address delivered by Uday Aggarwal, President, Debating Society, St George’s College. Krishnam Grover of Class 9 led the gathering in prayer.
Superior Brother PU George, Principal Brother Ramesh Amalanathan, Vice-Principal Brother Shaju Thomas, Brother Isidore Tirkey, Cultural Coordinator Deepali Ballabh and President, Debating Society, Uday Aggarwal lit the ceremonial lamp.
Somil Jhunjhunwala of Class 10 spoke about the life of Brother JG Masterson, a distinguished literary genius, known for his flair for conversation, dedication and zeal.
The debates were conducted in the world schools debating format and were judged by a panel of judges comprising Dr Shalini Vohra, Pooja Khanna,
Dr Anubha Pundir, Anupma Khanna, Elizabeth Pundir, Ashish Garg, MD Bhowmik and Rishi Sanwal.
The schools that participated in the debate were Wynberg Allen School, Mussoorie, La Martiniere College, Lucknow, Unison World School, Dehradun,
St Joseph’s Academy, Dehradun, St Mary’s Academy, Meerut, Vasant Valley School, Delhi,
Mount St Mary’s School, Delhi Cantt, The Doon School, Dehradun, Vivek High School, Chandigarh, Sanskriti – The Gurukul, Assam, Welham Boys’ School, Dehradun, St Jude’s School, Dehradun, Bishop Cotton School, Shimla, Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun, Convent of Jesus and Mary, Dehradun, St George’s College, Mussoorie.
After a few general instructions, followed by the pairing of schools, the first round (prepared) commenced.
The topic for the first round was: “This House believes that it is better to be a teacher than a pupil.”
The topic for the second round was: “This House Believes that movies breed crime.” The topic for the third round was: “This House regrets that prisons are temples where devils learn to prey.”
On the basis of the maximum marks scored in the fourth round, the Semi-Final round was contested among four schools. La Martiniere College, Lucknow was paired against St Joseph’s Academy and The Doon School was paired against St George’s College.
Chief Guest, eminent author and photographer, Ganesh Saili was welcomed with a bouquet of flowers.
In the final round, St George’s College and St Joseph’s Academy debated on: “India as a flawed democracy must move to an authoritarian regime in order to progress.”
At the end of the final round, Principal Brother Ramesh Amalanathan addressed the gathering. Brother Ramesh Amalanathan expressed his gratitude to the judges for their valuable effort and time.
St Joseph’s Academy was adjudged the winner of the Brother JG Masterson Memorial Silver Medal Debate. St George’s College was the Runner-Up team.
Akshit Garg of St George’s College was awarded the Silver Medal for being adjudged the ‘Best Speaker’. The Most Promising Speakers of the debate were Kushagra Aditya Jha and Preksha Agarwal of St Joseph’s Academy.
