Damascus-SANA
With the participation of 16 teams from different governorates, competitions for the final stage of the National School Debating Championship were launched today at the Ebla Hotel and the Umayyad Conference Center in Damascus, which is organized by the Syrian Scientific Olympiad Administration, the Excellence and Creativity Authority for secondary school students from 15 to 18 years old, and will continue until the 28th of August.
The participating teams represent a number of public and private schools, schools of excellence, beacons of the Syrian Trust for Development and the National Center for the Distinguished, where they will play 28 matches during which a set of possible argumentative sentences will be discussed, and 16 referees from different governorates will participate in the arbitration of the matches.
Two teams compete in each debate, one of whom supports the topic under discussion and the other denies the same topic regardless of the personal opinion of the contestants. Four judges debate.
SANA accompanied the start of the competitions, where the media advisor to the Excellence and Creativity Authority Malik Hammoud pointed out that the authority seeks, through the national debates project, to spread a culture of dialogue based on convergence of thought and the search for a common denominator between any interlocutors and the consolidation of a culture of civilized dialogue and acceptance of the other opinion, noting the students’ enthusiasm and their willingness to participate in debates.
The trainer Uday Abu Fakher from the Syrian Trust for Development pointed out that the students are trained on how to think critically and analytically, and on effective dialogue, and the ability to accept a viewpoint that differs from their views in order to reach solutions that satisfy all parties.
From the judging team, Mahmoud Zein pointed out that the judging process takes place on three levels: method, content and strategy, considering that the debates are a competition that gives students new skills and knowledge, in addition to refining their personality on the social level by forming friendships with their peers of the same age group and from different governorates.
In turn, the students expressed their happiness to reach the final stage of the tournament, including students Zainab Youssef and Naya Yazigi from Tartous, who considered it a beautiful and enjoyable experience that gives the student the opportunity to express his opinion logically and gain new perspectives.
From Aleppo, student Adam Kawaya saw that preparing and training for the debate introduces the student to different points of view on the issue at hand, while student Zain Al-Abidin Ahmed from Tartous saw that participating in the tournament contributes to developing the student’s analytical thinking skills and gives him confidence to express his opinion as well as accept the opposing opinions of others.
The two students, Rua’a Hamed and Maya Al-Shater from As-Suwayda, indicated that debates contribute to developing their awareness and ability to persuade, and benefit on a personal level and provide access to a lot of information.
Helena El Hindi and Muhannad Suleiman
