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FMHS hosts learners taking part in the National Debating Tournament
Author: FMHS Marketing & Communications / FGGW Bemarking & Kommunikasie – Sue Segar
Published: 09/12/2021

The Tygerberg Campus will be abuzz with the voices of some of the Western Cape's brightest young minds when 60 school pupils from around the province converge in mid-December to take part in the National Debating Tournament.

The hosting of the tournament is part of a new partnership between the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) and the Western Cape Schools Debating Board. Faculty management agreed to a request from the board to make use of their venues for the competition, including accommodation for the Western Cape learners, for the tournament held 15-19 December.

The Western Cape delegation will be hosted at the Tygerberg Campus and the debaters from the other provinces will operate from their homes, with all the debaters being linked up online.

Fifth-year medical student, Abdul Aziz, who is the head coach for the Western Cape Schools Debating Board, described the partnership as an excellent way of exposing students – about one-third of whom are from disadvantaged backgrounds – to the tertiary environment.

“The pupils will be able to make use of the university's resources, including access to wifi in order to access the online debates with learners from other provinces," he said.

“The opportunity of spending time at the FMHS for a few days will enable them to see a future where they might be able to become participants and even leaders at the university. It will give them a glimpse of what life could be like after high school and help encourage them to become future pioneers and maybe medical professionals," he said.

Abdul, who has been involved in debating for at least ten years – first as a school debater and, for the past five years as a debater for Stellenbosch University as well as a coach – said the 60 Western Cape debaters in the tournament had been selected to represent the province from a pool of 350 students.

The debaters will operate in teams of three or four speakers and will be judged in terms of their team performances. The top 20 individual speakers will also be ranked.

“The debates will cover a range across nine themes and could be related to anything from medicine and healthcare to economics and international relations. The National Schools Debating Board selects topics after consultation."

Aziz added that debating should be promoted as much as possible among school pupils as it helps to develop critical thinking and general public speaking skills through the medium of debate.

The Western Cape Schools Debating Board is a public benefit organisation which runs various tournaments through the year in the province. It consists of four leagues - the Rotary League, the Thethani Debating League, the Boland Schools Debating League and the Winelands Debating League.

The Rotary League, which services 40 member schools, is the largest league in the Western Cape and is run by the Rotary Club of Cape Town in collaboration with the UCT Debating Union; the Thethani Debating League consists of 22 schools across townships in Cape Town, including Philippi, Khayelitsha, Strandfontein, Langa and Ottery and reaches over 300 learners. The Boland Schools Debating League is run by the Stellenbosch University Debating Society and consists of 10 member schools from the surrounding area of Stellenbosch. The Winelands Debating League was modelled after the Thethani Debating League and currently has four competing schools - Kayamandi, Makupulla, Luckhoff and Cloetesville high schools.

​The South African national debating competition sees top school debaters from the provinces going through a rigorous selection process to compete for the title of national champion at the end of each year. The competition comprises junior (grade 8-9) and senior (grade 10-12) divisions and takes the form of group rounds, followed by a knockout stage from which the eventual winners are decided. Debaters at the competition also have the opportunity to be selected for trials for the national team. The South African National Schools' Debating Team is one of the strongest in the world and, in recent years, the Western Cape has had a strong representation in the national team.

Dr Therese Fish, Vice Dean: Clinical Services and Social Impact said the FMHS' vision for social impact is “to promote a focus on innovative, inclusive, sustainable and transformative engagement with the individuals, social groups, organisations and institutions we serve.

“Partnership between the faculty and various stakeholders and role-players in society is key to our mandate, and considering this, the faculty welcomed the collaboration with the Western Cape Schools Debating Board by hosting its National Debating Tournament in December 2021 as it fosters partnership."

Fish continued: “The faculty aims to support, empower and develop young people (many of them are potentially future students at SU and the FMHS) through giving them an opportunity and exposure to sharpen their skills and to introduce the possibility of engaging in higher education."


​Photo credit: PIXABAY