Students debate for return trips to London and the latest cell phones

The students, who had gathered at the Beach Luxury Hotel, insisted it is a tough competition.

KARACHI: The All Pakistan Declamation Contest managed to gather 44 participants by luring them with return tickets to London, Malaysia and Colombo, portable DVD players and the latest mobile phones.

The students, who had gathered at the Beach Luxury Hotel on Saturday, insisted, however, that “it is a seriously tough competition”. As many as 23 schools from across the city were taking part in the sixth declamation contest organised by St Patrick’s High School to celebrate 150 years of its existence.

During the previous five events, the school had invited students from India, Bangladesh, the UAE and Sri Lanka but security prevented them from following this trend. The competition was divided into two rounds: pre-prepared and extempore declamation.

St Patrick’s debating society patron, Xaenub Mirza, said that an extra round has been added for judges to test knowledge and that made this event one of a kind.

Obaidur Rehman, an O’ Level student from Aisha Bawany School, admitted that he was nervous. “I was amazed to see the confidence level of some students and learnt that one should express one’s views without being conscious,” he said.

St Patrick’s debating society president Kamran Asghar regretted not being able to participate mainly because “we are missing the amazing prizes”.

“Out of approximately 50 students, there were almost 40 who were really good and the remaining 10 were not that bad,” said Froebel Education Centre’s Mohammad Ali Iqbal, who believed he gave his best.

Karachi Grammar School’s Mir Moeen Mahmood said that despite having years of experience at debating, he was still nervous. “This is probably the best of the declamation contests held here and you can see that there is so much potential in all students.”

Maheen Zakaria of the Mama Parsi School showed the poise of a debater even in her normal conversation. “You won’t be nervous if you believe in what you are saying,” she said. Even though Mama Parsi does not have a separate society for extra-curricular activities, Maheen felt that regular debates and other contests have groomed her enough. “I have 900 friends on Facebook and 75 per cent of them are those I met on occasions such as this one,” she said.

In the short break that followed after the first round, a group of four students from the school’s Harmonics Society entertained with their songs. The band was only told in the middle of the night that they would be performing the next day.

The arrangements were flawless and the event was well managed. Incharge Angelo Ryer, dean of the A’ Levels section, made sure his students acted like the perfect hosts. The All Pakistan Declamation Contest started in 2006, he said. Not affected by the increased competition between schools, Ryer said that, “St Patrick’s is known as the powerhouse of science, and we have students with 13 and 14 As and A*s”. He was extremely proud that they are the only school along with KGS that takes students after their results are out.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2011.