School debating contest kicks off

Dewi Santoso, Jakarta

The second Indonesian Schools Debating Championship (ISDC) opened on Thursday, involving 102 senior high school students who represent 22 provinces across the country.

A 41-strong jury panel will select four best speakers from the event to contest the World Schools Debating Championship (WSDC) in Calgary, Canada next year.

Minister of National Education Abdul Malik Fadjar said in his opening remarks the event proved that the country had a lot of talented people who could master not only science and technology, but also debating in English.

"Education and knowledge are the basis upon which a country can build a nation. This event provides proof that our country is able to produce a talented young generation," Fadjar said.

Participants will debate current global issues, including the environment, science and technology and politics.

The event is jointly organized by the Association for Critical Thinking (ACT) and the Ministry of National Education. They held an initial competition last year.

This year's competition will start on Saturday, with the final on June 29.

Prior to the debate, the organizers held a youth forum on participatory democracy on Thursday to raise student awareness of issues related to democracy. Speaking at the forum were Hadar Gumay of the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) and Sita Supomo of Cornerstone Indonesia.

"We underlined that the students had the right to present any issue to the House of Representatives and demand the legislative body solve it," said Sita.

All the participants will be given an opportunity to meet House legislators on June 29.

Students from Christian High School BPK Penabur 1 (SMUK 1), Al Izhar High School and Kanisius High School represented Indonesia in the World Schools Debating Championship (WSDC) in Lima last year. They sprang a surprise by beating teams from South Africa and the Philippines on their way to the finals.