President’s College (PC) defeated St Stanislaus College in the first debate of the Ethnic Relations Commission Inter-Second-ary Schools Debating Com-petition.
According to a press release the schools debated the moot ‘The celebration of national festivals has the potential to unite the various ethnic groups in Guyana’ with the PC team proposing and Saint’s opposing. Amir Dillawar lead the PC speakers while Saraswatie Bharrat led Saint’s however, it was PC’s second speaker Neilson McKenzie who got the judges’ nod, and the audience’s approval, as the competition’s best debater. Chief Judge Aggrey Azore called McKenzie’s performance “an excellent presentation of oratory which should be emulated by anyone who is interested in becoming a debater.”
At the same time Azore applauded both teams for exhibiting high-quality debating techniques saying “it was refreshing to have been given the opportunity to observe a debate of such remarkable standards.”
The teams were commended for their extensive research of the topic and the manner in which they related secondary information to the topic.
They were also highly praised for their good command of grammar and vocabulary. Deandrea Grenville was the other member of the PC team while Michael Pertab and Reza Manraj also comprised the Saint’s team. The competition was hosted on Wednesday at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development.
Meanwhile, St Joseph High secured a walk over to the next round after Christ Church Secondary pulled out of the competition. Covent Garden Secondary also secured a spot in the next round after defeating Bladen Hall Multilateral on Friday. Covent Garden’s team included Jenella Blackman, Yeolana Callender and best debater Maria Phius. Chrysanti Braithwaite, Myonette Pritchard and Kenola Francis represented Bladen Hall.
