By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Dehradun, 6 Nov: An Inter-School English Debate, “Spectrum 2024”, was organised by St Thomas’ College, here, today.
Five schools participated in this debate – St Jude’s School, Carman School (Dalanwala), St Joseph’s Academy, Summer Valley School and St Thomas’ College.
The topic under fire was “Sports is a Great Career Option for Students”. The topic was given to the schools one day before to prepare.
A “Turncoat” round was also held in which one student per school was permitted to speak and present his/her views on different topics selected through a random chit picked by the speakers. The speakers spoke for one minute in favour of the motion and, at the stroke of the bell, immediately ‘Turned Coat’, i.e., started speaking against the motion.
It was an interesting morning with the participants presenting their views, while in the turncoat round, the topics were: Are Books Better Than Films, Smartphones Make Us Stupid, Can Artificial Intelligence Replace Human Intelligence, Coaching Centres Are Essential For Success In Exams, Friends Are A Waste Of Time.
St Thomas’ College being the host school did not compete for the Overall Running Trophy and, thus, St Jude’s School was declared the winner, while St Joseph’s Academy was the Runner-up in the Debate Competition-2024. The Best Speaker for the motion was Aanya K Grimm from St Thomas’ College and Prakshal Jain of St Jude’s School was presented the Best Speaker Award for against the motion.
The Best Speaker in Turncoat category was Devansh Tomar from St Thomas’ College.
The Chief Guest on the occasion was Monika Arora, Principal, Doon Cambridge School, Racecourse, who gave away the prizes. She gave an inspiring speech, encouraged and stimulated the students and applauded the manner in which the competition was conducted.
The judges were Annie Pundir, V Kalia and June Shepherd who found it challenging to judge the debate competition.
The vote of thanks was proposed by the Principal, RV Gardner, ex-MLA, who thanked all the Principals of the participating schools for sending the students to this competition.
