Young Leaders debate off to great start

Monday February 16 marked the beginning of the RBTT Young Leaders Schools’ Debate, which is currently being held at the Roytec Building on Henry Street. Chairman Hans Gieser opened the proceedings and went through the rules and even joked that since he was of Swiss origin, the debate will be timed to Swiss timings, eliciting chuckles from the students present. Competing schools Morvant/ Laventille Secondary School and the First Fullerton Scout Group debated the topic: “Be it resolved that universal education is the key requirement for the peaceful co-existence of mankind.”

First Fullerton Scout Group Form Four students Rani Chaitoo and Zolandi Mohammed were first to speak in favour of universal education, citing that the United Nations General Assembly advocated the right to education for all. “Advances in technology means that we have ways to predict earthquakes and hurricanes, not to mention that we can learn about each other’s cultural differences and customs,” said a soft spoken Chaitoo. Among the free educational benefits she listed (in this country) were free textbooks for primary schools, $1,000 book grants for secondary school students, and the fact that most schools had computers. However, Kashara Martin and Kinder Francois of Morvant /Laventille Secondary (also Form Four students) quashed their opponents’ arguments, stating that universal education did not necessitate co-existence, as only certain countries throughout the world had ready access to adequate resources and practised tolerance and respect for its neighbours.

“Look at countries like Haiti and India, for example,” Martin said. “In India, most of the women are not given a chance to access education, and end up selling goods or their own bodies in order to survive, yet the leader of that country is an educated person. Look at Haiti, where their leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide is an educated man, but because of a lack of resources, his country is at war with itself. The United States is looked at as an example of higher education, yet, because of a lack of tolerance it does not enjoy peaceful relations with other countries and is at war with Iraq and Korea.”

The second round of arguments went smoothly, but it was very clear for the beginning of talks that the Morvant/Laventille students were the stronger group. At times, students had to hold back their applause after each delivered segment. No official winner was declared, but in the end Morvant/Laventille was declared the school that will move on to the second round of debating. According to chief judge Maurice Chevalier, the students did not challenge each other, choosing instead to deliver set speeches, therefore no actual “debating” was done. The first round of debates continue until tomorrow.