Bangladesh Debating Council

Bangladesh VICTORIOUS
The Council
Code of Conduct
Guide to Debate
Great Speeches
Adjudication
Resources
Team Bangladesh
Pre Worlds
Events
Results
Rankings
News Articles
Photo Gallery
Links
Contact

Bangladesh Ranked 10th in the World Debate Championship

 

Rashedul Hasan Stalin

 

“Team Bangladesh won the debate 3-0 against the mighty South Africans, Ranked 1 team till the 7th round. Everyone was shocked! People were congratulating us for one of our biggest debating achievements in worlds. Bangladesh has defeated past world champ like Bangladesh Cricket Team defeated Australia back in 2005 in Cardiff. Eventually we broke for the Octo-Finals for the first time in the history of Worlds, and in the final ranking Team Bangladesh ended up with 10th place. We also pleased 4th among all the African, Middle East and Asian participating Countries.”

Five national English debating stars from Bangladesh took part in to this year World Schools Debating Championships and bought the national glory from UK. Being the Team manager and Coach of that team, I would like to share those experiences we had through out this journey.

The World Schools Debating Championships is the most prestigious event of its type. More than 50 countries have taken part in the tournament since 1988, with each selecting up to five talented student debaters to compete. The intensive competition requires each country to take part in 8 preliminary debates over 4 days. The 16 highest rated teams go forward to knockout rounds, with the Champions ultimately named at a Grand Final. This year 36 countries participated in this grand event. This year the Championships was organized by the Wales Center for international Affairs form July 4 to July 14,2006 in Wales, United Kingdom. The participating Teams were: Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Botswana, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Kuwait, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Scotland, Montenegro, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, United States and Wales.

Team Bangladesh took part twice before in WSDC, but this year we had the best result by qualifying the Octo-Finals of the Championships. Our achievement was published in the most prestigious debating web link: Global Debate Blog, which is one of the well-repotted debating information sources, at http://debate.uvm.edu/debateblog/doctortuna/Blog/BA53BA85-10F2-4A5A-9127-BD964AF7D598.html. This year world championship result was also published in WSDC Website at: http://www.wales2006.com/page.asp?p=211. Last time when Bangladesh participated in WSDC back in 2001 we were 23rd out of the 32 nations. The result of 2001 is found at this website http://www.schoolsdebate.com/years/2001/teamresults.asp. In 1992 when Bangladesh participated for the first time In WSDC. The championship was not in today’s scale. Only 12 nations participated in that championship, to find out moor about the 1992 championship please visit at http://www.schoolsdebate.com/. Unfortunately no result was found to mention the achievements of Team Bangladesh on its first year performance. So being 10th among 36 nations (in the Final Ranking not breaking positions) to this year World Schools Debating Championships is quite an achievement for Team Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Debating Council-BDC streetted this achievement by organizing and preparing the National School Debating Team for this year World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC). Actually it was not easy for us to being a new member in Bangladesh Debate. BDC was established in July 20, 2005 by 10 world debaters to encourage English Debate in Bangladesh. From the very first year, we had a clear vision to build national debating talent so that they can represent Bangladesh in various international debating championships. Our primary objective has started smoothly by the performance of this year Team Bangladesh in WSDC.                

 

Road to Wales

 

The story of this journey was started with the selection process to build a strong National School Debating Team. BDC Pre-Worlds was the first in this kind to select the national team for Bangladesh.

 

MGBS hosted the 1st BDC Pre World Schools Debating Championships Bangladesh 2005.

 

Bangladesh Debating Council-BDC took the initiative to select the Team Bangladesh for World Schools Debating Championships first in 2005. Motijheel Govt. Boys High Schools Debating Club (MGBSDC) organized the first Championship from August 27 to 30, 2005. Three rounds selection championship where debated on three same debating motions released and debated on same time in different venues.  A total number of 12 Schools Team (Colleges were also included) and 50 adjudicators participated in that championship. The participating institutions were: Notre Dame College (NDC), Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, Mastermind, Scholastica, Sanydle, BAF Shaheen English Medium School, Motijheel Ideal School and College, Manarat International School. The four breaking teams qualified for the semifinals where: Scholastica and Mastermind A with 3 wins, Viqarunnisa and Notre Dame College with 2 wins. In the main championship betel Notre Dame a Defeated Scholastica and Mastermind A secured win against Viqarunnisa School and College team. The last grand battle was against Notre Dame A Vs Mastermind A. 56 min debate and 1 hour Adjudication discussion declare mastermind A as the first champion of BDC Pre Worlds. Tasriqual Islam Nibir from NDC A was judged the best speaker in the grand finale.

 

ISD hosted the 2nd BDC Pre World Schools Debating Championships Bangladesh 2006

 

Break Night Party, Barbeque Night, Socials and beautiful campus of International School Dhaka (ISD) gave the 2nd BDC Pre Worlds participants a new look of a new generation Debating Championships. The championship was unique in various ways. 5 rounds debate, only 20 minutes preparation time and selecting the best judges; debaters had toughest time of there debating life. A total of 16 teams participated in that grand championships. The participating institutions were: Manarat International School, Mastermind, Mapelife International School, Notre Dame College (NDC), BIAM English Medium School, Sunbeams, European Standard School (ESS) and the host International School Dhaka (ISD). On the second day ISD hosted a Barbeque party followed by heart breaking break night announcement in he break Night Party. Amusement named the top teams qualified for the semifinal and the top fifteen adjudicators. Manarat A and B outplayed rest of the teams and secured top two positions in the break night ranking. Mastermind C and NDC A secured the next two positions for the semis. Day 3 was all about the seriousness; the Council Meeting was arranged by BDC, matters related to the present and future of Bangladesh Debating was the topic for discussion. The meeting was also focused on the different issues related with the Pre Worlds itself where every institution representatives presented their viewpoint. The grand final started at half past three. Manarat A was unbeaten through out the championship and eventually became champion by defeating the running champion Mastermind in the Pre Worlds grand final. M Hasanul Kaisar and Sohara Mehroze from Manarat A were jointly judged best speakers for the Grand Final. In the prize giving ceremony BDC declared the top ten debaters name for the final selection.

 

IUB hosted the BDC Final Selection for Selecting Team Bangladesh

 

Independent University Bangladesh (IUB) hosted the final selection day for choosing the Nation School Debating Team from Bangladesh. The Vice Chancellor of Independent University Bangladesh inaugurated the program. A total of 15 debaters who ranked top 10 in the past two Pre Worlds are called for the daylong selection. The selection was divided into three stages; Public speaking round, Leadership round and Role-playing round. In these three rounds debaters where judged their leadership, Case presentation and Team playing skills. Finally we had a killer team comprised with five National English Schools Debating Stars for Team Bangladesh.      

 

We had a Killer Team

 

Team Manager and Coach: Rashedul Hasan Stalin

 

Debaters:

Debating captain: Safwan Bin Shabab from Scholastica

Sohara Mehroz Shachi from Manarat International School Dhaka

Prathama Komal Nabi from Mastermind

Rubaiya Sharin from Mapleaf International School

Farhana Islam Muna from Mastermind

 

Shadow Adjudicators:  

Nadim Saddat from Dhaka Residential Model College (also the deputy team manager)

Tasriqual Islam Nibir from Notre Dame College (Shadow Judge)

 

 

We the team management of Bangladesh decided to give the chances to all the debaters went as a part of the national team to debates at least two rounds in the worlds. This decision was made after I had a discussion with my debaters after finishing each and every round. According to the performance and knowledge depth on a particular motion we had chosen the final three before the debating rounds.

 

Among all the debaters Prathama had 8 debating rounds, Safwan and Sohara had 7 rounds, Farhana and Rubaiya had 3 and 2 rounds respectively.    

 

Sohara Mehroz ranked 1st among all the debaters from Team Bangladesh and led the team twice in the debating rounds. Muna and Rubaiya was the two youngest members of my team and did very well according the to my expectation.

 

Nadim played an important role in Team Bangladesh. He was my deputy in the championship. Nadim contributed a lot being the Video Man and team cook for team Bangladesh. He recoded all the important debating videos for our preparation. He was also the Acting Cook for me, though I cant say the experience was delicious but it was far better then Mac Donald’s to me.

 

Nibir was the only person among all the participants who enjoyed all the socials and parties hosted by the organizers. And I guess he had the largest multiracial friend circle during the Championships.         

 

 

Safwan on BBC:

 

Team Bangladesh Debating Team Leader Safwan Bin Shabab was selected by the BBC Channel 4 crow to host a special program on the championships. He interviewed some of the top politician of United Kingdom. Out of 180 debaters six was chosen to perform that program and Team Bangladesh was proud to have a talent like Safwan in the team.         

 

Adjudication Panel for selecting Team Bangladesh

BDC Pre-Worlds were the first Debating Championships in Bangladesh where adjudicators have to pass the adjudication test conducted by Bangladesh Debating Council. After finishing each rounds debaters marked adjudicators for their oral adjudication. Debaters selected the semifinalist and the finalist adjudicators by their adjudication evaluation sheet. It should be mention here that, this selection procedure is followed by every international debating championship in the world. The adjudication team includes 15 World Debaters and Adjudicators who participated in the World Universities Debating Championships from 2004-2006, 5 Asian level Adjudicators and Debaters and many National English Interuniversity Debating Champions. The main adjudication team was comprised with: Rashedul Hasan Stalin Chief Adjudicator, Mehedi Hassan Tamim, Mohammed Saddam Hossain, Azim Ahmed and Tanbhir Ahmed Haroon were the Deputy Chief Adjudicators. The breaking Adjudicators where:

 

Rashedul Hsan Stalin (WSDC 2006, WUDC 2005 and 2004, AUDC 20O5, President EWUDC 2003 and 2004). Saddam Hossain (WUDC 2005, AUDC 2005, President IUTDS 2005). Mehedi Hassan Tamim (All Asian 2005, President DUDS 2004-05). Azim Ahmed (WUDC 2006 and 2005, President IUBDC). Nawrin Sultana (President JUDS). Rashedul Alam Rasel (President DUDS). Tanbhir Ahmed Haroon (WUDC 2006 and 2005, Vice president IUBDC). Imteaz Khan (WUDC 2004 and 2005, Debater EWUDC). M M Ashiquar Rahmam (President EWUDC 2005). Mahbub Manik (President EWUDC 2006). Mabrur Wassay (WUDC 2005, General Secretary IUTDS). Tahmid Alam Amit (Vice President DUDS). Robert Jhon Fraser (WUDC 2005 And 2004, Vice President EWUDC 2003). Nahid Hassan (Secretary BUDC 2005). Alam Ishraq Chowdrury Rudra (WUDC 2005, Ex-Debater NSUDC). Rezwan Kabir (AIDA, Debater NSU). Kashfi Binte Ahmed (WUDC 2006, Vice President IUBDC). Habibur Rahmam (WUDC 2005, Debater IUBDC). Musharrat Hossen Shormee (WUDC 2005, All Asian 2004, Astrals 2004, Debater DU). Muhammad Asadullah Asad (WUDC 2005, Debater DU). Nazirul Khabir (WSDC 2006, WUDC 2005, General Secretary NDDC 2004-05). Syed Miraz Anower (WUDC 2004, Debater EWUDC). Yasir Arafat ( Genarel Secretary, JUDS). Niaz Morshed Chowdrury (WSDC 2OO5, Vice President EWUDC). Iftekarul Alam Ifti (Vice President IUBDC)

 

 

(Note: 1. WUDC stands for World Universities Debating Championships.

2. AUDC stands for Asian Universities Debating Championships

3. WSDC stands for World Schools Debating Championships)

 

 

The Journey

On the midnight of July 3rd at 1 am we flew to Biman Bangladesh Airlines (Airbus- A310) from Dhaka to Dubai. Late that night we touched the Dubai International Airport for transit to London after four hours flight. Dubai is known as the Largest Shopping city in Asia, but my team members were far from shopping at Dubai Airport. Because it was truly expensive for us and were doing only the window-shopping. Our flight flew for eight hours to London and we reached Heathrow at 9am local time. We were so tired and forced to wait for five long hours for our Intercity Bus to Cardiff at the Heathrow Bus Station. “The journey by bus” was a fantastic experience for my debaters, we were introduced to the mixture of modern and environment friendly rode side eco decoration through out our three hours journey to Cardiff. We had a wormed welcome at the Cardiff Central Bus Station by one of the Championships volunteer (latter we knew she was the sister of the Convener). The volunteer drives us by "combi" (a kind of van much loved in Cardiff) to the Cardiff University Student Residence were we staid for the rest of the tournament. Team Bangladesh had its won flat with all the facilities available for a nine-day stay. We had deliberately allowed one day of rest at the start in Cardiff in order to get our circadian rhythms retuned after two long flights. After a yearlong preparation for this championship we were happy to be in the worlds. At last we had arrived!

On the Wednesday, Nibir, Nadim and Myself took part in an all-day briefing for judges and coaches while the team got to know their neighbors and did their final preparation for the start of debating. It turned out to be a grueling nine days of competition, and as luck would have it we received a very tough draw facing three of the toughest teams in the first three debates. But at that point we had no reason to be unduly concerned. We felt that we were ready.

 

Day 1: a day for challenges

 

Round 1:
A prepared resolution -
“This House would place a worldwide ban on the use of civil nuclear energy.”

Bangladesh had the challenging Proposition side and lost by a 3-0 decision to the Peru (latter Ranked 13 in the championship).

 

Round 2:
An impromptu resolution -
“This House believes that full-time students should take part in compulsory charity work”

Bangladesh was Opposition against Pakistan (Eventually ranked 1 breaking team) and lost a 3-0 decision

 

It was a tough first day against two strong opponents. Both debates were declared to be very close, but we just couldn't get the judges in our favor. We felt very discouraged and frustrated and once again it was raining heavily. Cardiff in late summer is like that: hot and sunny for much of the day but becoming more and more humid until everything is broken up by thunderstorm and then it's fine again. Was this going to be a fun experience, we wondered? The team knew that they had to face Czech Republic the next morning, reputed to be one of the best teams in the tournament and they worked long and hard that night to see if they could find the unassailable arguments and the moral to turn things around.

 

Day2: Team Bangladesh was back

Round 3:
A prepared resolution -
This House believes that captured terrorists should be treated as prisoners of war”. Bangladesh was opposition against Czech Republic and we won our first debate by a 2-1 decision. It was a superb comeback. I was very proud of the kids and they felt a terrific load begin to lift from their shoulders.

 

Round 4:
An impromptu resolution -
“This House would place a worldwide ban on tobacco advertising” Bangladesh was proposition against Slovenia and won by a 2-1 decision. Team Bangladesh was back in the hunt after two days, now with a 2-2 record. It was a very encouraging day for us. The most favorable moment of my debating life was to see student of Cardiff Cathy’s International School gone mad about Team Bangladesh Performance.

 

Day 3: Team Bangladesh had its best day

 

Round 5:
A prepared resolution -"This
 House supports the international trading of pollution quotas”. Team Bangladesh was proposition against Lesotho and won by a 3-0 decision. The team knew that after the adverse first day that we needed to go flat out and win every round to be sure we made it into the octo-finals -- the surviving 16 of the original 36 countries. Our record now stood at 3-2.

 

Round 6:
impromptu resolution -
This House would ban abortion except in cases where the mother’s health is at risk”. Bangladesh was proposition against team Montenegro (it was their first international tournament after their Independence), and we won a 3-0 decision. Bangladesh was picking up speed and moving into contention, now tied at 4-2 with 12 other countries.

 

This was probably the most unforgettable of all the days that we spent in Wales. None of the delegates will forget the joy and sincerity with which we were received by the young people in the schools where debates took place. How fast conditions are changing in Wales and how far they still have to go!

Day 4: The most memorable day for Team Bangladesh

Round 7:
An impromptu resolution -
"This House believes that Internet search engines should boycott China until it allows its citizens unrestricted access to the Web". Team Bangladesh was opposition against past champs of Worlds Team England, and lost a 3-0 decision. We debated well, but just couldn't get around the English wit and blarney. They out-talked us and charmed the judges into their camp! My debaters were speech less. They knew to reach in to the octo-final we should need five wins but we had four and most importantly we had South Africa in the next round. South Africa had 7 wins out of 7 rounds and ranked 1 with Pakistan. They didn’t lose any single debate in the championships up to that. Team Bangladesh knew what to deliver. I asked to give their best and to think, as this is the last debate of their debating life. All credits goes to my team…………..        

 

Round 8:
An impromptu resolution -
This House believes that the War on Terror has been counter-productive". Bang! A resolution on terrorism, at that time I was thinking we could create the biggest upset of the championships because we had some motions related to this in Pre-Worlds. I knew my debaters were excellent to this motion.

 

We were in the proposition. Team Bangladesh won the debate 3-0 against the mighty South Africans, Rank 1 team up to the 7th round. Everyone was shocked! Bangladesh was everywhere. Peoples were congratulating us for our biggest debating achievement in worlds. Bangladesh has defeated past world champ in debating like Bangladesh Cricket Team defeated Australia one year back. Dear readers, these two national achievements has a relationship, both the cases the place was same, Cardiff. This completed the preliminary rounds and we finished with a 5-3 record, having won 13 of 24 judges. This seeded us in 15th place in the break ranking out of 36 nations going into the octo-finals.

 

Team Bangladesh is in the Octo-Finals:

At this point 16 nations were seeded and the playoff grid was set. The playoffs started with 16 countries, and the debates were sudden death until a World Champion was decided. Here are the results of the octo-finals:

 

Australia defeated Wales by a 3-0 decision.

Singapore defeated Greece by a 3-0 decision.

Scotland defeated Hong Kong by a 3-0 decision.

South Korea defeated Pakistan by a 2-1 decision.

South Africa defeated Canada Peru by a 3-0 decision.

Ireland defeated Bangladesh by a 3-0 decision.

England defeated USA by a 3-0 decision.

Canada defeated New Zealand by a 2-1 decision.

 

And so, at this point Bangladesh was eliminated having ended up in 10th place in the Final World Ranking. In each round three of our five debaters had competed; Shohara, Safwan, Prathama, Muna and Rubaiya played different roles and spoke from several different positions. Our most reliable opening speaker was Shohara, and our most effective closer was Safwan. Prathama debated best when she was in the middle. Rubaiya was our Information Bank and Muna was an outstanding public speaker for Team Bangladesh. In the Octo-Finals Team Bangladesh went out heads held high. We gave it our best shot, left nothing on the ice, as they say in the world of ice hockey. The team from Sir Lanka, Pakistan, Germany and Slovenia were our closest friends in the tournament and if we had to lose, they were the people whom we had enjoyed the most. What more can one say? This is the essence of what the Worlds is about, not just who won. It's a cliché to say in situations like this that everyone was a winner, but to participate in such a dynamic forum with debaters, judges and coaches from all five continents was quite simply a winning experience.

 

Quarter Finals:

          Impromptu motion "This House would punish sports teams  whose fans misbehave"

 

The quarterfinal match-ups went as follows:

Australia defeated South Africa 

Singapore defeated South Korea

Ireland defeated England 

Canada defeated Scotland

 

Semi Finals:

Impromptu Motion "This House believes that first-time offenders who commit non-violent crimes should not be sent to jail"

 

The results of the semi-finals were as follows:

Australia beat Singapore
Ireland beat Canada

 

The Worlds Final:

The Grand Final debate pitted Australia against Ireland, who had defeated team Bangladesh in the Octo final. The resolution was, "This House believes that democracy is the best system of government for every nation” with Australia proposing and Ireland opposing the decision went 5-2 in favor of Australia. Our congratulations to Australia, who have been World Champions in seven of the past eight years. That says a lot about the excellence of the Australian debate program. Team Australia is therefore the winners of the World Schools Debating Championships 2006

 

A 26-member team from Wales Debate Federation and the Wales Center for International Affaires superbly organized the nine-day championships. The event was run with the tactical exactitude and attention to detail of a military operation! It is hard to imagine a better combination of competitive and cultural activities. We saw so much; for example on the tour day that followed the first three days of debating we visited and participated in the Old and New Wales National Parliament House in Central Cardiff, the famous Royal Temple of Peace, Golden Dragon Temple and the ever green Hilly Mountains of Wales. That same day we also visited the Bay of Cardiff, which was as beautiful as the spirit of the championships. 

 

Team Bangladesh thanks Bangladesh Debating Council-BDC’s all members including all the adjudicators from different universities who have contributed to this success. Especially I like to thank Dhaka University Debating Society (DUDS), Independent University Debating Club (IUBDC), Jahangirnagar University Debating Society (JUDS), Islamic University of Technology Debating Society (IUTDS) and our favorite East West University Debating Club (EWUDC). Apart from their contribution Team Bangladesh like to thanks some of our national debating legend like; Mr. Sarfaraz Ahmed (Ex- General Secretary World Universities Debating Council and Deputy Chief Adjudicator 12th All Asian Intervarsity Debating Championships 2005), Mr. Abdul Latif (Proposed Chief Adjudicator for 2008 Asian Universities Debating Championships-AUDC), Mr. Hassan Mahmud Biblop (Babu). We had a marvelous experience and we look forward to the future with enthusiasm. Some of our team members will be eligible for next year World Schools Debating Championships in South Korean and that is a major plus for any team debating at this level of competition.

How you can be a part of Team Bangladesh 2007

English debaters from schools and colleges get ready for the next BDC Pre Worlds, This Championship will going to select Team Bangladesh for next World Schools Debating Championships. Bangladesh Debating Council-BDC will be organizing the tournament in November 2006.

Our championship race will not be ended until we became the world champ in any of the future tournaments. My experience as a world debater tough me to never give up the dream to becoming the best in the world. Who knows Bangladesh will bring the Champion Trophy being the first country from Asia within a few years time.

 

Rashedul Hasan Stalin

Coach and Team Manager, Team Bangladesh WSDC 2006

Bangladesh Representative, World Schools Debating Council

Chair, Bangladesh Debating Council-BDC    

Cell: 01715495119

Email: stalinhasan@gmail.com

All rights reserved by Bangladesh Debating Council
Created and maintained by Rashedul Hasan Stalin