By Sasha Pei-Silovo – EM TV Online
The IBS National Debate Championships ended on a high note today, after the successful completion of the grand final debate session between 2013 winners Coronation College and the Port Moresby International School.
POMIS edged out their IEA sister school, Lae’s Coronation College, to win the national titles.
The two schools battled it out debating on the topic of climate change – ‘Climate Change in PNG is a direct effect of government economic policies to meet the world market demands’.
This year’s national debate championships saw young, intelligent Papua New Guineans, passionate about their country; debate various topics of national (and world) interest.
The level of intellect and debate skills was highly commendable and all schools who participated are to be proud of their representatives who showed the rest of the nation how young people can positively contribute to decision making by voicing out their concerns, opinions and thoughts on development issues and nation building, among others.
The national debates themed ‘developing young leaders of our nation’ developed and hosted by the Institute of Business Studies (IBS), is an annual event that was first incepted in 2009. It began as a competition in Port Moresby, growing from strength to strength to become nationally recognised and was expanded to include three other centres – Lae, Wabag and Kokopo.
The debates are held in the four centres with winners of the respective centres making it onto the national championships held in Port Moresby, that of which had occurred over the week and which ended today.
The aim of the debate competition is to develop young children to become good leaders tomorrow. It is also aimed at encouraging schools to socialise through academic competition as such, to build and foster relationships within the schools.
This year, the IBS School Debate Competition’s major sponsor was the Department of National Planning and Monitoring under the ‘PNG Em Mi Yah’ awareness campaign on responsible sustainability development.
The national titles included coaching sessions, where all participants underwent training on debating, the skills, methods and the art of debating, aimed at preparing the young debaters for the various debate sessions.
Eliminations began on Wednesday, with schools moving on to the final rounds.
The Port Moresby International School, representing NCD, are the 2014 national debate champions, with Coronation College (last year’s winners), representing Morobe, coming second and Notre Dame Secondary, representing the Western Highlands Province, coming in third.
The debates were staged at the PNG National Museum and Art Gallery in Port Moresby.
