THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: ‘War of the words’, a debate for schools in the city organised by the Christ Nagar Higher Secondary School, saw eight teams vying to grab the top prize. Holy Angels’ ISC and Carmel School made it to the final round, at the end of which Carmel School emerged victorious and Kumary Sheela Shaji from Carmel School was selected as the best speaker.
The eight teams from various schools were taken to different rooms for the first round. Each team comprised six members, mostly from the higher secondary section. The contest involved four rounds - an informal debate round, a mock UN summit round, a classical debate round, and, finally, a moot court round.
Bhavya Mohan, from All-Saints College, Appu S, from Barton Hill College, and Basil Ajith, from Law Academy, served as the judges for most of the day. K C Sunny, Dean of Law at the Kerala University; Sasthamangalam Ajith, a criminal lawyer at the Kerala High Court; and Giri Sankar, professor of law, took over the judging panel for the final moot court round.
Jyothis Padmanabhan, chief coordinator of the event and a class XI student of Christ Nagar School said, ‘’War of the words’ propagates the concept that you can avoid conflicts if you just sit down and talk about it. Students have to be able to speak out their opinions and have to be well-versed in socially important topics, especially because they are the leaders of tomorrow.’’
The debate was inaugurated by Principal of the School Rev Fr Cyriac Kanayal. Vice- Principals Fr Robin Ananthakadu and Thomas Mani were present on the occasion.