The Doha QatarDebate Center, an initiative of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, organised an Arabic debate on Saturday for Qatar high school students. It is the first time an Arabic debate has been conducted in the Arab world closely following the regulations of the World Schools Debating Championship.The contest takes place immediately after release of the first Arabic handbook on debate titled The Complete Guide on the Art of Debate by QatarDebate in January this year.The competition, held at the al-Imam al-Shafaii Independent School for Boys, Moayzer, saw an overwhelming response from students and schools in the country. Seventeen teams from 16 schools participated in the day-long competition.The team from Alraslah School, comprising Mariyam, Marwa and Taqwa, won first place with four wins and 1,025 points, while the Amna Wahab School team of Soud Yousra and Manar came a close second. Third place went to the Alaraqam School team of Asmaa, Mayar and Reem.In addition to the winning teams, the tournament also honoured the best 15 speakers of the competition. Mariyam from Alrasalah School with 294 points won the best speaker award closely followed by Asem Ahmed from Doha School who won the second place with 293 points. Marwa from Alrasalah School also got 293 points, but took third place due to the total number of wins for her team.The debate aroused great interest and curiosity among the students and the coaches of the teams. The tournament included motions such as ‘Teachers can be replaced with machines’ and ‘Expatriates who have completed 15 years in the country are entitled for citizenship.’