EDUMEET 2019
“You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.”
Debate is one of the academic activities that give students creative room to express what they feel. The length and breadth of knowledge that they gain through this is simply un-paralleled. With the same perspective in view, the Inter- School Debate Competition, under the nomenclature EDUMEET 2019 was organized by Indian Muslim Welfare Association (IMWA) at SIMS Salmiya on May 03. The chosen topic of this year’s debate was – “Is our current education system preparing our children for a better future”.
The programme opened with recitation of Holy Quran by Ms. Saima, daughter of Mr. Samiullah Bandarkar of Class VIII. She recited the last two verses from Sura Baqra along with its translation. The mantle of compering was taken up by a first and second timer, – Master(s) of Ceremony, – Ayan Mohammad of Class X and Mohammad Sadiq of Class XII respectively. As per the feedback of the audience, they made a great presentation and did a fantastic job. The kept the energy in the room and kept everyone engaged. This presentation of these fresh faces was backed by Ms. Isra Naeem, well known for her style of compering in which she talks more to the audience and keeps them glued. The overall presentation was one of the highlights of the programme.
The EDUMEET programme of IMWA was divided in two segments, the essay writing and the debate competition. While, the kids were busy writing essay, the audience comprising mainly parents, debate judges, debate participants and families of IMWA office bearers were enlightened by a motivational speech by Ms. Sandra Stein. Mrs. Sandra is M.Ed. TOESL, Sr. Instructor, IEP at AUK. Sandra has been an educator for 30 years. Her main focus has been on curriculum development and project – based learning. She was Director of the IEP, AUK from 2014- 2017. The theme of her speech was that students learn best when they are actively involved in the lesson. She related several anecdotes where the initial failure or even a humble beginning of people have led them to immense success in life. In other words she encouraged parents to not to feel sad if the result of their child has not been up to their expectations.
The students for essay writing were divided in three groups. The subjects for the essay captured wide imagination of students. The essay topics for Group A, Class (7 and 8) was – A day without parents, whereas for students of Group B, (Class 9 and 10), it was, Are Tuitions really necessary. For seniors, Group C, (Class 11 and 12), the essay topic was – My vision for India. In Group A, Maryam Jameelah of SIMS was the winner whereas Ashwile Biju Pani Kuleem of ICSK, was the Runners up. In Group B, Sabah Faez Faisal of ICS, Amman Branch was adjudged winner with Angela Gracelyn Smith of ICSK in the second place. In Group C, Ayesha Wafiya of ICSK was declared winner and Irene Sara Jacob of ICSK, grabbed the second position.
IMWA expresses its gratitude and is thankful to the following teachers Mr. Sajan Sudev, Mrs. Pushapajaa M.P. and Mrs. Pushpalatha Subramaniam, (Indian Educational School ; Mrs. Ambika Shivaprasad and Ms. Helen Selina (Indian Community School – Khaitan) and Mrs. Humera Baba – (SIMS) and their respective school management for having spared their valuable time. IMWA values and appreciates the painstaking efforts of these teachers in going through approximately 100 essays written by a cross section of students from Class 7 to 12, then choosing out the best amongst them in a short duration of three hours.
For debate, there were 09 teams of debaters from eight Indian schools in Kuwait and a home team of IMWA. Eighteen speakers, vied for honours with each team consisting of two members, for and against the motion. A slot of 5 minutes (3+1+1 minute) was allotted to each member. The participating teams represented their respective schools namely, (1) ICSK Khaitan (2) SIMS (3) India International School (4) Gulf Indian School (5) Don Bosco (6) ICSK Amman (7) Carmel School (8) IES, Bhavans (9) IMWA.
The teams were well prepared, while arguing for the motion or against – they used various skills like overstatement, definition, rhetoric, irony etc. to convince the audience. The participants, armed with statistics and data validated and made their arguments more emphatic with right facial expressions, body movements and gestures. The highlight of the debate was the rebuttal round. The organisers moved away from the conventional style of only judges asking each speaker a question. Here, the participants too were allowed to ask the opponent a question on the matter presented by him/her. The debate competition came alive as a volley of questions were answered, inviting more questions which got further answers from both sides. Each participant rose to the occasion to defend his/her argument. One of the best refuters who grabbed the attention of one and all was Liana Maria James of IES, who eventually became the winner.
At the end of the heated but interesting debate which lasted over three hours, finally, Indian Educational School was declared the winner. IES was represented by Liana Maria James and Joel M. George. Liana was also bagged the Best Speaker Award followed by Ayisha Wafiath of ICSK, Khaitan as 1st Runner Up and Efrem Joseph Charles of ICSK, Amman as 2nd Runner up.
Having emerged Champions, Indian Educational School set the benchmark for conducting activities in such a way that the students not only enjoyed but also learned a great deal from it. All the teams exhibited great oratorical skills. They put in tremendous hard work to showcase their hidden talent. The debaters displayed confidence in presenting their arguments before audience and a panel of eminent jury members.
The Jury team comprised of four judges,
(1) – Dr. Navnit Gandhi, who is a feature writer and author. She has nearly 250 publications on various socio economic problems. She has written books and work books for students of Class IX and X. She presently teaches at the Indira Gandhi National Open University, Kuwait.
(2) – Mrs. Rana Khan holds a Master of Arts degree in English Literature in addition to a Master in Business Administration. She also holds a teacher’s certificate in CELTA and IELTS TTT (Train the Trainer) program from British Council. Currently, she is a doctoral student in Education at University of Bath, UK. She has extensive teaching experience from various schools and colleges besides active industrial experience at various management positions. Her main research interests are learning management systems, CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) and blended learning. Rana is Chair Elect to Conferences Professional Council, TESOL International Association, USA, one of the world’s largest English language teachers association. Currently, she is a part of the teaching faculty of English and Business Management and Academic Foundation Program at Algonquin College, a Canadian College in Al Jahra, Kuwait.
(3) – Dr. Moli Divakaran is an educationist with 25 years of teaching experience in India, Canada and Middle East. Currently she is Lecturer at Box Hill College of Kuwait. She is also a certified Therapeutic Teacher by the Board of Canadian Association of Therapeutic teachers. Dr. Divakaran is a doctoral researcher specializing in Higher education and Adult learning.
(4) – Mr. Anil Lobo is an active Toastmaster, having mentored several adults and youth on the skills of communication. Mr. Lobo has earned his Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from USA and Masters in Safety Engineering, and is presently working in a leading Regional Bank in Kuwait as Physical Security Manager.
The attendance of Mr. K.K. Gangadhar, the Principal of ICSK, Khaitan was the added highlight of the program. The IMWA fraternity is very thankful by this gesture of the Principal and the nice and encouraging observations that he made in his speech. Mr. Irfan Karim, the President of FIMA also graced the occasion by his presence.
IMWA EDUMEET 2019 Covered in Portals and Newspapers
