Home Dehradun St Joseph’s Academy wins All India Frank Anthony Memorial Debate

St Joseph’s Academy wins All India Frank Anthony Memorial Debate

1603
0
SHARE

By OUR STAFF REPORTER

Dehradun, 27 Sep: The Frank Anthony Memorial All-India Inter-School English Debate, in two categories, held in the honour of Frank Anthony, is an annual debate competition organised by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CICSE), in which close to two thousand schools participate each year.
The Debate competition is spread over three levels – Zonal, Regional and National Levels.
In the senior category, Classes XI-XII, St Joseph’s Academy, Dehradun was represented by Akshat Gupta and Sai Supraja. At the Zonal level, held in Dehradun, the team proved itself superior to the rest of the competing teams to find a berth in the Regional level held in Gurugram. The Regional level debate, held at Sri Ram School, Manesar, on 18 August, saw tough competition among 12 teams including that of La Martinere, Lucknow, St George’s College, Mussoorie, Bishop Cotton School, Shimla, etc. The SJA team, amidst tough competition, was declared the Winning Team, the only one to reach the National level, with Akshat Gupta being declared the Best Speaker of the Day.
The National Finals of the Frank Anthony Debates 2023 was held in Kolkata on 25 September, hosted by the South City International School. The six best teams from around the country were to compete against one another on a common platform.
Besides St Joseph’s Academy, the other finalists were La Martinere Girls, Kolkata, Heritage School, Kolkata, Janma Bai Narsee School, Mumbai, Bombay Scottish, Mumbai, and Swaraj India Public School, Kanpur.
The vociferous debaters argued over the topic, “Social Media is a Time Bomb”, and were judged by a panel of judges comprising Prof Upal Chakraborty, Presidency University, Dr Sushmita Mukherjee and Damini Ray from Shyama Prasad College.
At the end of the debate, Team St Joseph’s Academy was adjudged the winning team, proving itself the First Among Equals. Akshat and Sai, both, were awarded cash prizes of Rs 5000, each, beside the winner’s certificate and the coveted Frank Anthony Memorial Trophy for the year 2023.