Debating the real issues
The buzz of adrenaline of five young debaters who represented the country in Croatia among the 67 national youth teams at the World Schools Debating Championship (WSDC) was more than palpable.
The team with their coach Sarani (centre) at the championships - Pic courtesy the Debaters’ Council
Sri Lanka’s team comprised five 18 year old students; Shalem Sumanthiran (Royal College), Avvayar de Mel and Shanya Sadanandan (Ladies’ College), Sahas Renuja Gunasekara (Ananda College) and Ashanee Kottage (Colombo International School).
Coached by Sarani Jayawardena, the team made it to the knockout rounds for the third consecutive year, and coming in at the 13th position with 5 wins and 16 ballots after the preliminary rounds. Notably, the team defeated former finalists Wales 3-0, and secured split decisions (2-1) in their losses to past champions Canada and Singapore. In the partial double-octo final, the team was knocked out by Peru, whom Sri Lanka had defeated in the preliminary rounds.
WSDC 2018 had many highlights this year with China emerging champions of the competition and India placing as a finalist. This marked the first time both finalists were ESL (English as a Second Language) teams and the first time an ESL team won the championship.
Each young debater has come a long way from the few years they spent practising. For Avvayar and Shanya who first started learning about debates in grade 9 “everything they said to us was enlightening” Shanya chuckles with the afterthought “and it was terrifying!”
An environment based on merit seemed to suit Sahas as he shares “In a lot of activities there’s this reasoning that seniority makes you inherently better, but that’s not the case with debating you have juniors in the A team, seniors in the B team.”
All five students have dipped their fingers into a variety of activities in school but debating seemed to always stick. For Ashanee, “It indirectly helped me also get better at other things like drama, announcing, leadership positions etc.”
The backing received by the Debaters’ Council (DC) was also critical to the five as the DC encouraged a lot more participation in tournaments.
We are told there’s a lot more opportunity for different schools or teams to succeed and a break from the mould of having those two or three schools which are always placed.
The camaraderie between the five is heart-warming to watch making withit seem as if they’ve been training together all their lives rather than the actual 8 months prior to the championship. However, Shalem and Avvayar are no strangers to the competition having represented Sri Lanka before at the WSDC in Bali last year.
Avvayar recalls her first experience being “terrifying” whilst Shalem honestly shares “I was a bit confused.” However, this year their past experience helped them keep calm.
The five are unanimous that the competing teams although friendly were a far cry from mediocre. “There is a usually a weak link in teams but here we couldn’t find a weak link or some way of exposing a team. They were so good!” Sahas comments. Their biggest take away from the championships? “We got really close as a team,” Ashanee shares. The supportive nature of the other international competitors also made it more comfortable and memorable despite her initial perceptions of the competition being “cut throat.”
As the championship now draws to a vivid memory why does debating still matter to them? “Before debating my arguments would be a rant about something but with debating we have a discussion,” says Sahas. The respect given to someone else’s perspective is also an important takeaway from debating – “Debating allows you to push your point without completely destroying another person’s point of view because you understand that there is a certain amount of validity to both sides, ” says Shanya adding thoughtfully “what happens a lot in society is that we don’t take the time to understand each others side and I think that’s important.”
Debating has only fuelled Shalem’s future aspiration of teaching. “It has given me the ability to break any issue down and explain it easily to someone else or to other kids.”
Speaking to the two present councilmen Kithmina Hewage and Tamara Fernando, of the Debaters’ Council (DC) in Sri Lanka, we learn that the DC will also be celebrating a well deserved milestone.
In July 2019 the DC will host the WSDC in Colombo marking the first time a South Asian country has hosted the event.
Winning the bid on behalf of Sri Lanka at the WSDC held in Bali last year was Kithmina and Tamara whose concept a “tournament for the community” secured 37 out of 50 votes in favour of Sri Lanka hosting outbidding South Korea and Nigeria, the former who had a strong history of hosting International tournaments.
The duo educated the selection panel on the positives of having Sri Lanka as hosts. “We told them this is how a lot of our local students will get access to international debating,” Kithmina says envisioning inviting students from all over the island to watch the teams compete. “Developed countries have the resources to send their juniors or “observer teams” to allow them the experience of watching the debates and then in two years time they are ready for the tournament,” he says. Thus the rationale of creating accessibility to a country that lacks a debating culture allows the council to “bring the tournament home than take only five kids abroad,” he shares.
This year Tamara helped mould the young minds that went to Croatia having coached the national pool prior to selecting the team. “These five kids were the best we selected from a pool of 20,” Tamara shares however attributing a large portion of the teams prep to coach Sarani.
Bringing down the WSDC to Sri Lanka next year the council hopes to change perceptions around English debating. The lack of versatility in the English language is one factor that hinders students from entering debating. “I’ve seen a lot of smart kids who are not good in English initially become strong in English through debating.
It’s a knack for more reading, workshops, training etc,” says Kithmina.
Both councilmen believe the tide is also turning.
“Given that Singapore won last year, China won this year and Colombo is hosting next year the world community has noticed that Asia is rising,” Kithmina points out.
The experience of taking part in the WSDC is also “a great equaliser for us and the kids,” Tamara shares. Both Kithmina and Tamara have acted as adjudicators at the WSDC, with Kithmina going on to judge the semi-finals this year. Their advice to future debaters is to adhere strictly to the three categories of presentation style, good argumentative analysis and having a sound strategy when prioritising arguments and clashing with the opposition.
A good debater is one who can convince even “an averagely intelligent person” Kithmina shares. “We like to think of debating as a supplement to what they learn in school,” Tamara comments further adding “It pushes kids to read things outside of a textbook and gives them a real thirst to be curious about the world around them.”