Debaters test their oratory skills

With an opinion about everything, debaters are testing their oratory skills

Raeesa Munshi, left, from Wellington International School ,during the debate practice at Jumeirah College in Dubai.

DUBAI // Raeesa Munshi, 18, loves winning an argument. She enjoys it so much, she tests her skills by arguing with complete strangers.
Ms Munshi, a student of Dubai's Wellington International School, is among a new generation of teenagers who have an opinion about everything and want a platform to air them.
Young, confident students like her have been bitten by the "debate bug", says Grant Smith, founder and coach of the UAE Debate Federation.
"Two years back, very few schools had a tradition of debating and it was largely in-house," says Mr Smith. "But the push for more school involvement happened when I organised a debate during the Literary Festival in 2009 and we had four teams participating then."
Now there are 14 schools in Dubai and Abu Dhabi that have set up debating societies and meet regularly to practice their oratory skills.
"Debating is still in its infancy in the UAE but we are trying to encourage more schools to develop it," Mr Smith says. "As a federation, we also hope to put a team into the annual World Championships."
To make that possible, the best speakers from various schools across the country need to be groomed.
Among the cream of the crop are students like Anirudh Sivaram, Aman Gupta, Deepak Nayak, Taahir Munshi and Ms Munshi, who meet once a week to prepare for the world championships, which will be held in Scotland this year.
"What excites me is that when you go for the debate tournaments it feels like you are sitting in a room with the leaders of tomorrow," says Taahir Munshi. "Debating is an art that culminates all the skills needed to be successful in today's globalised world."
Mr Sivaram, 17, was one of the first debating students at Dubai Modern High School and the winner of the "best speaker from a new nation" at the world championships in Doha last year. "It helps foster critical thought on current topics and relevant issues," he says.
Mr Smith says his students need to keep abreast of global happenings and must be quick to grasp concepts if they want to compete with their counterparts in the US and Singapore, where the debating culture dates back decades.
"The best debater is one who can pick up on sophisticated ideas being thrown about with an almost instinctive ability to evaluate whether an argument is good or bad," Mr Smith says.
It boosts their academic skills, too, he adds, who is also an English teacher at Jumeirah College in Dubai.
"Debating encourages them to read broadly and is complementary to everything that is necessary in education," he says.
"It teaches the logical organisation of ideas and educates students about things outside their immediate circle of interest making them politically and economically inclined."
The group members have been training under Mr Smith for two yearsand are now transferring their skills to peers and juniors in their spare time.
"We focus on sparking interest among students at school by having huge mass debates - including teachers versus students - and start with basic topics like iPhone versus BlackBerry to familiarise them with it," said Raeesa Munshi.
Students interested in starting their own clubs and learning the art of debating can contact Mr Smith at [e-mail]"
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