Mangalore: The zonal level selection of the Verbattle Junior as a part of Verbattle Debate Competition 2014 was held here on Friday August 1.
The participants belonged to the age group of 12-16 years studying in class 8th to 10th standard. Twenty-two teams were selected from a group of 60 teams from schools in the Mangalore zone which included Chikmagalur, Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Uttara Kannada, Udupi and Shimoga. The zonal level selection of Verbattle senior will take place on Saturday, August 2nd 2014 at Samruddhi Bhavan, Pumpwell, Mangalore.
The event which began with around 60 teams was narrowed down to twenty-two after an entire day of exciting debate rounds. The judges for the debate competition included- CEO and Managing Director of Hanuman Motors Vilas Nayak, Radio Jockey Arpit and Mechanical Engineering Professor Rakshith Shetty.
After a basic introduction to the rules and regulations of the Verbattle Junior round, Verbattle foundation Founder Deepak Thimaya announced the topics that were to be debated upon in the course of the event. Out of a list of 10 topic statements, some of the topics included
- The current education system is not equipped to deal with intelligence.
- Politics has solutions to India’s problems
- Schools are breeding grounds of negativity
The participant teams were given their final topics around 30 minutes before the debate session following which the teams underwent intense sessions of about an hour.
“Verbattle is a wonderful platform that improves one’s speaking skills. Initially I had problems in speaking fluently but participating in Verbattle Junior and reaching the semi-finals last year has given in me immense confidence in speaking and voicing out my opinions and hence I came back this year to participate and I am excited that our team got through to the next round and I’m also confident that our team will win,” said Suraj Kumar, one of the participants studying in Madhav Kripa High school.
The next round which is the Verbattle Junior -Skirmish will be held on August 19th,2014 in Bangalore. The semi-finals and finals for Verbattle Junior and Senior will be held on August 22nd, 2014. The final debates will be moderated by Mr. Deepak Thimaya personally and judged by some of the eminent personalities from the state.
The competition is organized by Verbattle Foundation, a nonprofit organization. Verbattle through this format has been conducting competitions since 2005. Verbattle believes that debates are a way to encourage children and youth of this country to imbibe values of democracy and civil society. Verbattle aims to make its participants through its competitions and other activities more tolerant, mutually respecting with camaraderie.
