World Schools Debating Championship to get underway in 2019
In 2010, a younger Kithmina Hewage found himself being a proud member of the Sri Lankan National Debating team, which for the first time in the country’s debating history, managed to break into the Octo-Final round of the World Schools Debating Championship (WSDC).
(L-R) Tamara, Kithmina, Manisha and Meghal. Pic by Priyantha Wickramaarachchi
Fast forward eight years ahead and today, he sits as a Co- Convenor of the WSDC 2019, as Sri Lanka prepares to be the first South Asian country to host the tournament. Alongside Kithmina is Manisha Dissanayake and Tamara Fernando, who are also Co- Convenors of WSDC 2019, and Meghal Perera, the President of the Debaters Council of Sri Lanka.
“My experience, participating in the championship in 2010 was simply mind blowing,” Kithmina shares, adding that the standard of debating at the time was high. But fortunately they trained under exceptional coaches for almost a year, which helped tremendously.
Since then the Sri Lankan team has also managed to achieve the same feat in 2016 and 2017. And in terms of talent, Kithmina strongly feels the Sri Lankan debaters are as talented as anyone else. However, he maintains that “it’s just that the technical aspect of it comes with exposure. And that is a critical point which determines outcome of a knockout round.” He believes that one of the main advantages of a tournament of this standard, coming to the island is that the exposure gained by it will be highly beneficial to the younger generations. “You tend to pick up small things such as the mannerisms and how to structure arguments etc.”
Just last week, the Council called for a media briefing to announce the Championship which is scheduled to take place from July 23 to August 2, 2019. Addressing those present, Tamara explains that what makes this debating tournament different from the others is its global reach. “We are expecting 500+ international participants next year.”
The Championship which was started in 1988 is the main competitive platform that brings out the very best of the global High School debating community and enables them to compete as National teams. Throughout the entire tournament, students are made to grapple with pressing contemporary issues and make arguments for and against challenging propositions.
As Tamara points out, some of the past topics at the grand final for instance, have included whether restrictions on free speech to combat the rise of the right wing populism should be adopted (2017), whether states should be allowed to pay other states to relocate and settle refugees (2016) and whether Governments should provide their citizens with a universal basic income (2015).
She adds that since its inception, the championship has also gone on to become a high profile event, as opposed to a mere schools debating tournament. “For example when it was hosted in England, the patron was none other than the former premier Tony Blair. And when it was in South Africa, the patron was former President Nelson Mandela.”
As the host, one of the things which the Debater’s Council of Sri Lanka was keen on, was to ground this tournament in the local debate culture and the local schools. For that reason, as Manisha points out, they have planned for schools such as Ladies College, the British School Colombo and St. Lawrence’s College to host the preliminary rounds of the championship.
Manisha adds that some of the participants in this tournament go on to become leaders in their respective fields of study, which also makes the championship a meeting place for future leaders of the world.
According to the Council, the 2019 championship is being billed as a “tournament with a difference” as it will showcase the country’s diversity, whilst also facilitating the local school children with an opportunity to watch these students deal with pressing issues. And this will certainly be a learning and not to mention, thrilling experience.
WSDC 2019 has currently received approval from the Ministry of Education Sri Lanka. Furthermore, the regional debate councils of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have also endorsed the tournament.
The Debaters Council of Sri Lanka is currently looking to secure sponsorships for the WSDC 2019. They invite corporates, who will recognize the local and international reach of the tournament, to partner with them. Interested parties are invited to email them at debaterscouncil@gmail.com
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