“Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.” – Desmond Tutu

As part of the Cognitive Exchange (CE) Programme 2020, two batches of students from Class X and VII were trained for advanced debate and speech for eight weeks by Cognitive Exchange Folsom, United Kingdom. It commenced on Wednesday, April 29, 2020 with 15 students of Class X and 17 students of Class VII.

The programme was a continuation of the curriculum for the students who were part of the intermediate debate and Intermediate speech respectively, held last year. This year they were trained in the next level, that is advanced debate and advanced speech. Classes continued every Wednesday from 7.30-8.30am. The debate was in a global format and participants were trained how to speak impromptu in an effective way with confidence and grace. The virtual training was conducted by two able student trainers Ms. Brinda Kalita and Ms. Neha Seshadri from the CE USA.

In the process mock debates were held to skill up the debating talents of the students and prepare them for the final competition. The training series culminated on Saturday, July 4, 2020 with a competition. While students of Class X debated on the topic, “Are kids burdened with extracurricular activities? “, Class VII had an option to speak on one of the three topics like, “Team work”, “Who would you want to be on a spaceship” and “A boy’s best friend is his mother”. All the participants spoke extremely well with great zeal and spirit. At the end, the names of the winners were declared. The participants will be further given training in the Global format to sharpen their oral skills and make them more confident speakers.

The programme aims to prepare the young students to develop their critical thinking and public speaking skills on topics that are more relevant for the present scenario and develop their leadership skills through speech and debate.