The First Project of the Debaters’ Syndicate: “A comprehensive look into the World Schools style of Debating”

Introduction

The Debaters council of Sri Lanka the leading organization for debating in our country introduced the “World School Style of debating” to schools early this year. This format of debating which is starkly different from the previous formats of debating most schools in Sri Lanka are used to is currently the standard and format which is followed at an international level, particularly the World Schools debating championship which is one of the largest international debating tournaments held. Sri Lanka has participated in this tournament for the past few years and the Debaters Council of Sri Lanka has been the body which has facilitated the creation and training of the Sri Lankan National debating team. The Debaters Council is made up of past debaters in Sri Lanka who have adjudicated and debated many national and international level debates and have introduced this new format of debating to Sri Lanka so as to develop school level debating in Sri Lanka to meet higher standards. As the Debaters Syndicate of Wesley College which is a member of the Debaters Council of Sri Lanka we see it as our duty to help in this effort by organizing a workshop on this new style of debating dubbed “A COMPREHENSIVE LOOK INTO THE WORLD SCHOOLS STYLE OF DEBATING”. The Council has agreed to send some of its qualified members to carry out the workshop. The Interact Club of Wesley College has volunteered to help the Debaters syndicate to organize this project successfully.

The Executive Board

· Project Chairperson : Maleen Jayasuriya

Lashanthan Gopalan

· Project Secretary : Shazad Synon

Dhanish Musafer

· Project Treasurer : Sithira Gunasekara

Jeremy de Zilwa

· Project Editor : Chrisjit Xavier

Akeel Majeed

· Finance Director : Shamil Latheef

Praveen Jayaratne

· Food and Beverage : Thanuja Meegahawatte

Fazlan Faiz

· Sounds and Lights : Khabeer Sharker

Nishan Caseem

· Hall Management : Imfaz Iqbal

· Decoration : Haseeb Hameed

· School Coordination : Firnaz Najimudeen

Details of the Project

· Date : 25^th March

· Time : 2.30p.m. to 5.30p.m.

· Venue : Wesley College, Colombo 09.

In the College Main hall

· Schools Invited :

•             St. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia
  
• Bishop's College
  
• Ladies' College
  
• Visakha Vidyalaya
  
• D. S Senanayake College
  
• St. Bridget's Convent
  
• Ananda College
  
• Methodist College
  
• Colombo International School
  
• St. Joseph's College
  
• Royal College
  
• Anula Vidyalaya
  
• Holy Family Convent
  
• Lyceum International School
  
• Oxford International School
  
• Asian International school
  
• Musaeus College
  

· No. of participants per school : 6 – 8

Financial Details of the Project

The estimated budget for the project is as follows:

	Description	Qty.	Unit price	Total
1.	Refreshments	150	Rs.150	Rs.22 500
2.	Rewards	150	Rs.50	Rs.7 500
3.	Tokens of Appreciation			Rs.7 000
4.	Notebooks	150	Rs.150	Rs.22 500
5.	Miscellaneous			Rs.500
	Total Expenses			Rs.60 000

Contributions to cover the budget are welcome in the forms of banners and advertisements and donations. The details in regard to this are as follows

One banner = Rs. 5000

One page in the notebook = Rs. 1500

Half page in the notebook = Rs. 1000

Outer back cover of the notebook = Rs. 5000

Inner back cover of the notebook = Rs. 3000

Handbills Distribution = Rs. 5000 (negotiable)

If interested please contact any of the following persons

Maleen Jayasuriya : 0112563115

Chrisjit Xavier : 0112733623/ 0771546804

Sithira Gunasekara : 0115616893

Jeremy De Zilwa : 0115514177/ 0771922144

The report to the Double Blue Magazine

The report of the debating society
2005
The English debating team emerged runner-up at the Nixon Challenge Shield organized by Ladies College and became the champions of the R.L. Jayasekara Memorial Trophy championship organized by Sirimavo Bandaranaike School.

2006
The English debating team took part in 4 tournaments this year. The debating team participated in the first British Parliamentary style debating tournament organized by the Law Faculty, where they made their way to the semi finals. Team “A” became semifinalists at the Nixon Challenge Shield organized by Ladies College. Our team emerged runners up in the N.M. Perera Challenge Trophy tournament organized by Ananda College and won the Youth Shield organized by Royal College where Muheed Jamaldeen was named Best Speaker.

2007
This year was also another successful year for debating at Wesley as our team were quarterfinalists at the B.P. debating tournament organized by the Law Faculty, the Nixon Challenge Shield competition organized by Ladies College and the Impromptu Debating Competition organized by Musaeus College. The debating team also managed to become semifinalists at the N.M. Perera Challenge Trophy tournament organized by Ananda College.

2008
Our team took part in the debating tournament organized by the Law Faculty and became the quarterfinalists at the Rev. Dr. Don Stanley Abeysekara Challenge Shield tournament organized by St. Josephs College where Maleen Jayasuriya won the Best Speaker award. At the Inter-School Impromptu Debating Competition organized by Asian International School, our team emerged quarterfinalists. Also at the Nixon Challenge Shield tournament organized by Ladies College our “A” team became semifinalists and “B” team quarterfinalists.
Two of our students, Maleen Jayasuriya and Ashan Rodrigo got the valuable opportunity take part in the Cicero’s Challenge tournament organized by the International Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM), held at New Delhi, India. In the tournament with over 140 students participating from over 50 schools (Indian) and 16 overseas schools, our team was able to make it to the finals and securing a place among the top 20 speakers and thus bringing fame to Wesley at the international level.