Inter-secondary school debate competition revived for 2023

The Inter-secondary School Debating Competition kicks off the first round of debates this week.

This is a four-round competition that will end in April with a grand finale between the two last schools that remain.

The first round begins on Wednesday, January 11, with 10 secondary schools participating in that round. St. Martin Secondary School will face off against the Castle Bruce Secondary School at the UWI open campus auditorium at 2:30 PM.

Also on Wednesday, the Arthur Waldron Seventh-day Adventist Academy will take on the St. Mary’s Academy at the PSU at 2:30 PM.

On Thursday, January 12,  there will be two more debates in the first round: the Convent High School will be taking on the Portsmouth Secondary School at 2:00 PM at the UWI open campus, and the Dominica Grammar School will face the Northeast Comprehensive School at the PSU conference room.

On Friday, January 13, the Community High School will comer up against the Isaiah Thomas Secondary School at 2:30 PM at UWI open campus.

After the first round of the debates, the winners will proceed to the second round where they will be joined by two schools: the Wesley High School and the Orion Academy who, due to cancellations, did not get to take part in the first round. The second round is slated for February.

The winners of the second round will move on to a third round in March, and then the two schools left at the end of that round will take part in a final competition in April.

“The competition is intended to revive the art of debating among high school students and young people in general in Dominica and also assist with strengthening public speaking skills,” Organizer of the debate competition, Trudy Christian, stated in an interview.

The competition, which was once an annual undertaking by the Kiwanis Club of Roseau, is being reintroduced into secondary schools for 2023 after a pause of activity in the last few years.