A. T. Flynn Memorial Inter-House Debate Competition

In memory of the great educationist and former Principal of Boys’ High School and College, late A. T. Flynn, the “A. T. Flynn Memorial Inter-House Debate Competition” for the students of classes IX to XII was held in the tastefully decorated Middle School Hall on Friday. Yellow House bagged the prestigious A. T. Flynn Memorial Debate Trophy.

            Amidst the verbattle, the teams from various houses demonstrated the calibre of their profound diction and knowledge in their speech delivery. The mercury soared high in the Middle School hall, when the friction of opinions wisked amidst the difference. Arguments always coincide towards the linear decision and hence leads towards pronouncing a reasonable judgment.

The judges for class IX and X were Dr. (Mrs.) A. R. Mukhopadhyaya, Mrs. N. Sharma and Mrs. M. Chatterji, while the judges for class XI and XII were Prof. Smita Agarwal, Department of English and Foreign Languages, University of Allahabad, Prof. Yogeshwar Tiwari, Head, Department of Medieval and Modern History, and Mr. Tariq Khan, Founder, Benhur High School and College.

The topic of the debate for class IX and X students was “Voting should be made mandatory if democracy is to be sustained”. The debate was chaired by Mr. R. Datt. The participants strongly put forward their views for and against the topic. Expressing their opinion for the motion, the participants were of the view that voting should be made compulsory if democracy is to be sustained and cited examples of various countries where voting is compulsory for every citizen. Opposing the motion, the speakers strongly brought about its negative aspects and questioned the significance of elections in democracy. To bring home their views they further added that the very ethics of democracy ceases to exist if a citizen of a country is forced to cast a vote.

The topic for class XI and XII was “Frailty, Thy name is woman!”. The chairperson for the debate was Dr. (Mrs.) A. R. Mukhopadhyaya. Speaking for the motion, the speakers opined that women are frail and physically weak because they are emotional and take everything to their heart, however, despite this they are most caring and loving and work tirelessly round the year to keep the family intact. The participants speaking against the motion stated that women are pillars of society. They are not frail or equal to men but they are far superior than their male counterparts. It is rightly said behind every successful man there is a woman.

            The judges appreciated the participants for their memory, matter, diction, pronunciation and delivery of their arguments put forth and interjections for and against the motion.

            The Principal, Mr. D. A. Luke congratulated the participants for the excellent rebuttal put up by the students. He stated that democracy provides liberty to an individual and plays a vital role in the growth of the society.

The results were as follows:

Class IX and X

Best Speaker (For the Motion)           : Bharat Aditya Ramana (St. George’s House)

Best Speaker (Against the Motion)    : Divyansh Praveen (St. George’s House)

Best Interjector                                   : Utkarsh Saxena (St. Andrew’s House)

Class XI and XII

Best Speaker (For the Motion)           : Abhinandan Verma (St. Peter’s House)

Best Speaker (Against the Motion)    : Ravit Singh (St. Peter’s House)

Best Interjector                                   : Ravit Singh (St. Peter’s House)

Best House                                          : St. Peter’s House

St. Peter’s House bagged the prestigious Late A. T. Flynn Memorial Inter House Debate Trophy.