Advancing Academic Extra-Curriculars: Speech and Debate India hosts first of its kind Online National Debate Tournament

The tools required for online education have been steadily progressing over the
past decade. However, it is only during the COVID-19 pandemic that they have accelerated to the forefront. Speech and Debate India – a life changing Journey backed by Research, with fun courses and thrilling competitive events for grade 1 to 12 students, believes we are at an inflection point in how to deliver globally proven pedagogical advances to empower our talented children across the country to compete in rigorous academic extra-curriculars online, while collaborating and learning together.
To advance their stance on online extra-curricular learning, Speech and Debate India will
broadcast the National Debate Tournament online on Sunday, 12th July, 2020 wherein High
School students will debate, ‘Reimagining Global Education.’ Consecutive two-year Debate
Champion in the State of Illinois, USA in the late 1980’s and the Founder of Speech and Debate India, Mr. Rajiv Kacholia explains, “Speech and Debate India leverages technology and our unique pedagogy to help kids learn to debate, while debating to learn and think critically about global issues and relevant content. The National Debate Tournament inaugural topic aims to deeply engage the education system’s customers – students – to join a conversation on how global k-12 schools can be reimagined to optimize for Creativity, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Happiness, and Societal Impact. Over 2 months, teams have been researching innovations and formulating plans for future k-12 schools. The judging criteria evaluates teams on their creativity, collaboration, and use of evidence and logic to persuasively communicate ideas.”
Open to students across Elementary, Middle, and High School Divisions, the National Debate Tournament, will be featuring India’s top two teams, advancing by competing in an
unprecedented 20 rounds of competitive debates with eliminations in each of 4 prior weekends
among students from top schools across the country.
The 6 finalists for the National Debate Tournament are:
TEAM 1: Affirmative TEAM 2: Rebuttal
Student School Student School
Shivani Shrotri Ecole Mondiale
World School Maahir Jain Jamnabai Narsee
International School
Saksham Sood
Cathedral and
John Connon
School
Jash Jain BD Somani
International School
Aryaman
Murdeshwar
American School
of Bombay Pratham Dave DY Patil International
School
The finalists have been selected over an intensive 3 month period by conducting multiple
Regional Tournaments with students debating the Economic and Healthcare needs of India in
response to COVID-19, as well as Qualifier rounds debating Reimagining Global Education, with
more than 400 Indian students from Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Dubai, Hyderabad, Indore,
London, Mumbai, New York, and others. Moreover, to help provide very detailed preparation
for the National Tournament, Speech and Debate India introduced a supplementary live online
tournament training course, which met in smaller groups daily over 4 weeks in live online
classes featuring debate drills and topic analysis on the future of Global Education. The course
saw an overwhelming response and was oversubscribed at 250%.
“Research demonstrates that debaters advance in reading, writing, and life skills. We use
exciting games and challenge our students to extend beyond their personal opinions and explore
alternative perspectives through rigorous analysis and discussion. Children dive into topics,
become self-motivated to read and process information faster, while aspiring to formulate
creative ideas supported by evidence-based reasoning,” Mr. Kacholia further describes.
Free registration to attend the one of its kind National Tournament High School Debate event
online, Sunday, 12th July, 2020, is now open for all students, parents and educators.
Register by visiting: https://www.speechdebateindia.com/nationals