National debate contest begins

National debate contest begins

JAKARTA: Minister of National Education Abdul Malik Fajar
opened on Thursday the English National School Debating
Championship 2003, which will run until April 17 in Jakarta.

Students from 93 high schools from 18 provinces across the
country are participating in the contest. They qualified after
winning regional and provincial competitions.

The students will compete in groups of three, but, instead of
choosing a winning team, a jury will select 10 individual
students for training for the international English debate
championship in Lima, Peru in August.

Of the selected students, only four will make the team for
world finals.

Indonesia took part in the previous world debate championships
in 2001 and 2002. -- JP