Dehradun: St. Joseph’s Academy organised the annual J L D’SOUZA Memorial Inter-school English Debate Competition on 30th August 2022. The debate was judged by a panel of four judges – Ms. Nadira Ahmed, Ms. Indrani Gandhi, Ms. Bijoya Sawian and Ms. Pallavi Gupta. The event comprised two rounds – the qualifying round – which was conducted at two different venues – A and B, and the final round. A total of fifteen schools – Unison World School, Hopetown Girls’, Ann Mary, The Asian School, Wynberg Allen, RIMC, Convent of Jesus and Mary, Welham Girls’, Welham Boys’ , Doon International, St. Georges’s College – Mussoorie, St. Mary’s Convent Sr. sec. School, Summer Valley, Grace Academy and the host school – SJA participated in the event.
In the qualifying round, four schools were selected – Convent of Jesus and Mary, Welham Boys’, Doon International, and The Asian School which had debated on the topics – ‘ This House regrets the glorification of sports persons of certain chosen sports’ and ‘ This House believes that privacy for children is a privilege and not a right.’ Aditya Semwal and Anjini Virmani were the chairpersons for this round.
The final round was debated on the topics -‘ This House believes that Russia’s attack on Ukraine proves that the jungle rule still persists,’ and ‘ This House believes that violence can never be a form of protest.’ This round was chaired by Ms. Rekha Tondon, a senior faculty at SJA. After an exchange of fiery arguments and witty answers, the debate finally ended with the following results – Qualifying Round Venue A Best Speaker ( FOR) Subhi Sabharwal – CJM, Best Speaker (AGAINST) Mishti Bose – Doon International School, Best Rebuttal – Mishti Bose – CJM and Ananya Sharma – Ann Mary ,Best Interlocutor – Vasundhra Panwar – CJM and Ira – DIS. Among Venue B
Best Speaker (FOR) Shubhankar Dhulia – Welham Boys’,Best Speaker ( AGAINST) Nandini Aggarwal – The Asian School and Pratyush Kakkar – Summer Valley ,Best Rebuttal – Shubhankar Dhuliya – Welham Boys’,Best Interlocutor – Arnav Goel – Welham Boys’. In Final Round,2nd Runner-up Speaker – Ira – DIS,1st Runner-up Speaker – Vasundhra Panwar – CJM and Aishi Thapliyal – Asian School. Best Speaker – Shubhankar Dhuliya – Welham Boys’,Runner-up Team – The Asian School,Best Team(s) – Convent of Jesus and Mary and Doon International School . The event ended with the Principal, Rev. Bro. Jeyaseelan congratulating the winners and the participants.
