British Council will present the fourth year of a national schools’ debate programme — Debating Matters India. Debating Matters India is open to students of Class XI and XII of Indian schools. It all began with the Online Elimination Test on July 26. Schools from across the country can participate in the online tests to find a place in the regional finals. Over the last three years over 1,000 schools from across the country have participated in Debating Matters. At the regional final level live debates will be held in eight cities --- Delhi, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Guwahati and Kolkata. The venue partners for South India are Christ University, Bangalore and Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai. Each school is encouraged to register a six member debate team along with a debate coordinator teacher right from the online elimination stage. However, a school can register a minimum of four students as well. A school can register only one team.
The competition comprises the following stages:
Online Elimination Test (OET): from July 26 to August 20 Online Elimination Test (OET) is the first stage of the competition that requires the school debate team to register online. After registering online, the team will download a topic guide from which they prepare for the OET. Upon the completion of the test, the team will have to submit their answer online which will be examined by British Council examiners. The teams will be selected on the basis of the answers they given at the OET. At the end of this process, the 12 shortlisted schools from each region will get a seeding based on their performance in the OET. The schools have to log on to //www.britishcouncil.org.in/debatingmattersindia/ for the registration process from July 26. The Online Elimination Test will be open till August 20.
Regional Finals
Following the Online Elimination Test, 12 schools will be shortlisted from each region to participate at the next stage --- the Regional Finals. The winners at each regional final secure a place in the National Finals for which they will travel to New Delhi.
National Finals
The National Finals is the final stage of the Debating Matters India competition. Eight schools from each Regional Finals will participate in the three-day residential National Finals held in New Delhi later in the year.