Birla Public School Pilani, proved its excellence in this challenging session by conducting the mega event Platinum Jubilee All India Online English Debates .The Debates were held online from 7th September,2020 to 11th September,2020. Sixteen Round Square schools locked their horns in 31 bouts of intense debates.
The Emerald Heights ,Indore won the event and The Mody School, Laxmangarh finished Runners Up.
Mr Raju Raman ,Programme Consultant to Victoria Memorial Hall , Kolkata and Executive Member of Calcutta Debating Circle; Col Ranjan Chowdhury, Director and Principal Faculty of Anglophile, Jaipur, and Prof. G.S.Chauhan, Associate Prof. English of BITS Pilani were the reputed personalities who judged the Semi Final and Final Rounds.
It was a nice platform through which young minds from eminent institutions of our country proved their oratorical skills. The active listening of the debaters helped reminding them that the purpose of the event was not only to compete but also to accept the opposing views.
INTER TEAMS DEBATE COMPETITION
Aryan Saraogi and Prabir Sandhu of class X organised an Inter-Teams Debate competition from 26 to 27 Dec 2020 to give creative room to the students of class IX and X to express their perspectives and refine their oratorical skills. The format of the debate was a combination of Cambridge and Oxford formats.
Five teams comprising of four members each participated in the event studded with seven pulsating debating bouts. Team Prabir and Team Rachit debated their ways to the final.
The final debate which was judged by Mrs.Aditi Chaudhary, Dr.Dinesh Chaurakoti, and Ms. Varsha Ratta, kept the audience on the edges of their seats. The topic ‘This house believes that increased surveillance leads to morality crisis’ sounded a bit dry but the participants armed with statistics and well-crafted arguments turned it into an exciting verbal duel and impressed the audience with their broad intellectual horizons.
The judges during their speeches not only appreciated the participants but also showered praise for the organising committee of the students for exhibiting excellent organising skills. Two melodious musical renditions at the end of the debate by the ‘kings of strings’ (guitarists) Bhavik Dabra and Lakshaya Mehta of class IX enthralled the audience. Team Rachit won the competition and Bhavik Dabra was adjudged the best speaker.
ONLINE ENGLISH DEBATES :-
Online English Debates in the Cambridge format was conducted in the School ( Junior campus) from 7th December to 14th December. Mock Debate Sessions were conducted from 29th November to 2nd December to finalize the participants and prepare them for the final event. Students of grade VI-VIII participated in the event and one team comprised of students of grade VI,VII & VIII.
Total 32 students participated out of which 24 could reach up to main event. Three anchors were prepared to conduct the event formally.
| S.NO. | TEAM MEMBERS |
| GROUP 1 | SAIMON, NIRVAAN,RAINS |
| GROUP2 | ARJIT,VIVAAN, SHAURYA SINGH |
| GROUP 3 | DEVANSH, HARSHIT,AMAN RAO |
| GROUP 4 | MOHIT, RUDRA ,VIVAAN RASTOGI |
| GROUP 5 | SURYANSH, RAGHAV GOYENKA , SURYANSHU |
| GROUP 6 | ARYAN SUKHIJA, RUDRANSH DUBEY, TANISH |
| GROUP 7 | JEEVESH, DHAIRYA , DAKSHA SHARMA |
| GROUP 8 | UTKARSH, HARIOM, KULBHUSHAN, SUYASH SHUKLA |
| GROUP 9 | YASHVARDHAN, AARAV JAITELY, RANVEER |
| GROUP 10 | AARAV JAITLY,SUYASH SHUKLA, DUSHYANT SINGH |
Anchors– Master Amna Rao (grade 6), Master Kanav Gupta( grade 8) and Master Atulya Gupta of grade 8.
The Preliminary , quarterfinals and semifinal rounds were conducted and final round was organized on 14th December. Mr. Jaskaran and Mr.Ravi Kumar were the judges for the event.
The result is mentioned below:-
| S.NO. | POSITION | NAMES OF THE WINNERS |
| 1 | I Position | Devansh Rai
Utkarsh Agarwal Ranveer Singh |
| 2 | Runners up | Nirvaan Mehra
Yashvardhan Pandey Vivan .K.Pradhan
|
| INDIVIDUAL PRIZES | ||
| § | Best Emerging Debater | Vivan.K.Pradhan |
| § | Best Emerging Debater | Shaurya .S.Shekhawat |
| § | Best Emerging Debater | Mohit Rai |
| § | Best Emerging Debater | Yashvardhan Pandey |
| § | Most Promising Speaker | Ranveer Singh |
| § | Most Promising Speaker | Dushyant Singh Shekhawat |
| § | Most Promising Speaker | Suryansh Mohta |
| § | Great Over All Performance | Suyash Shukla |
| § | Best Speaker of the Debate | Devansh Rai |
| § | Best Rhetorician | Nirvaan Mehra |
| § | Special Consolation Prize | Rudra Pratap Singh |
| § | Special Consolation Prize | Tanish Mittal |
Debate provides students an opportunity to develop skills in research, critical thinking, organization, persuasion and communication.Such events enhance Team work skills and Collaboration.
