Kota Kinabalu: A five-member mixed secondary schools team is set to represent Sabah at the national level secondary debate competition in Kuching from Oct 16 to 18.
The team from Kota Kinabalu - PPD Kota Kinabalu Team 1 comprises SM Tinggi Kota Kinabalu’s Tristen Melur Ambu, Jordan Voo Yee Fung, Krisya Elyeka Azis, St Francis Convent’s Harsha Sristi Saravanan and SM All Saints’ Ameta Vanar.
The mixed KK Team 1 emerged State champion in the recently concluded Sabah Debate Language Competition involving 28 teams from across the State in the event hosted by the Penampang Education Department.
Two of the Kota Kinabalu teams – Kota Kinabalu Team 1 and Kota Kinabalu Team 2 - faced off each other in the rare finals.
The team of five debaters under Kota Kinabalu Team 1 did not expect the final rival would be PPD KK Team 2 and eventually emerged as the champions with Ameta also emerging as the Best Debater.
The final round of the debate competition was on the motion of “This house believes that schools should be given the autonomy to regulate their own curriculum.”
PPD KK Team 2, who took the first runner position, was represented by Gerard Chin Tze Vern and Effie Claire Rodney Ganang from SMK Lok Yuk, whereas Jian Wong, Joseph Chia Yoke Seet and Jwell Recky were from SM All Saints.
The team are trained by teachers Marcus Khoo Hiok Tian (SM All Saints), Norjaliah Mulih (SM All Saints) Vera Lawrence (SM Tinggi Kota Kinabalu), Elizabeth Jipanis (SM Lok Yuk) and Tok Fen Fen (SM St Francis).
According to Sabah Debate Technical Director Eric Constantine, there was a proposal for a mixed team which comprised top 10 debaters picked from the 28 teams to represent the State.
However, he said they had decided to retain the winning team (KK Team 1) to represent Sabah.
“This year’s decision is to maintain and select the winning team as the representative due to several criteria, but mostly on team’s synergy, logistic training, dedication and commitment towards the preparation stages,” he said.
He believes that if debaters placed sufficient effort in their debate training, certainly, chances to proceed to better rounds will be higher.
General knowledge which requires the debaters to conduct extensive reading will be beneficial during impromptu rounds, Constantine said.
