Students representing 25 schools participated in the recently concluded fifth Qatar Schools Debating

QatarDebate National Schools Championship featured 137 stduents in 44 teams
League National Championship at Qatar Academy, where a team from the DPS Modern Indian School (DPS-MIS) emerged victorious.
The competition featured 132 students in 44 teams, as well as 67 judges, who had all received training at the QatarDebate Centre.
Officials said that the standard of debating throughout the competition was of high quality, and that the event showed how much the culture of debate has developed in Qatar.
Head of English programmes at QatarDebate said: “It is very 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 came through in their speeches.”
She praised the students involved in the final debate. “I am so proud of these students who have the courage to stand in front of a large crowd and argue for and against different motions,” she added.
Motions for the competition included, ‘This house believes that the state should pay parents to stay at home,’ ‘This house believes that national treasures should be returned to countries of origin,’ ‘This house would refuse to negotiate with kidnappers and hijackers,’ and ‘This house believes that PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) should only accept vegetarians as members.’
The final debate, on the motion ‘This house would abandon the use of nuclear power,’ featured DPS Modern Indian School Team 1, and Qatar Academy Team 2, while the top five were made up of Al Arqam Academy in third place, Qatar Academy Team 1 in fifth and Park House English School Team 1 in fifth.
Awards were presented by public affairs officer at the US embassy, Carolyn Clark, and Qatar Academy principal Michael Hitchman.
The best speaker award for the competition was presented to Safa Kashaf from Park House English School.