This is how we do it

The NLS Debate Junior program has been strategically divided into 3 stages or components. The first stage involves meeting the Principals as well as the Department Heads of the co-curricular activities of the listed schools, wherein members and representative students of the Literary and Debating Society hand over the proposal enumerating the details of the program and its intended goals, as well as negotiate convenient dates to meet interested students in the age group of 13 to 18 years (8th Grade to 12th Grade).

The second stage of the program involves conducting a workshop in these schools spanning four hours. The workshop comprises of an intensive modular presentation on language, its importance, logical reasoning and other basic tools necessary to develop persuasive skills useful to debaters as well as in daily conversations. This workshop is followed by a demonstration of the debate in parliamentary format. The workshop is designed to be highly interactive, and involves the audience at every step of the presentation, as well as in the demo debate. The third component will eventually be the tournament itself, wherein one team from each of these schools competes in a tournament to try and emerge as the best team of debaters in this format in Bangalore.

As an initial step to this program, we short-listed 26 leading high schools in Bangalore based on a comprehensive survey of their performance and participation in related activities, as well as popular reputation. Not surprisingly, all 26 schools readily expressed their willingness to be participants in this program leading up to the tournament. till date, workshops have been conducted in the following schools to a great response:

1. Army Public School

2. Baldwin’s Boys’ High School

3. Baldwin’s Girls’ High School

4. Christ Junior College

5. Delhi Public School, North

6. Delhi Public School, South

7. Sri Kumaran’s CBSE

8. Sri Kumaran’s ICSE

9. St. Joseph’s Boys’ High School

10. The international School Bangalore

11. Bishop Cotton Girls’ School

12. National Public School, Indiranagar

13. Inventure Academy

We have also received dates for workshops in various other schools, and hope to complete this stage of the program by the end of this month.

We received a truly overwhelming response from a lot of the schools and the students. some of the impressions of the students as well as the organisers are posted here. Read on!