Enthusiastic students: Young leaders shine at Beaconhouse Model UN

Participants at the first event titled “global village”, played their roles as future leaders of the countries.

ISLAMABAD:

More than 600 students of Beaconhouse School System participated in the opening session of the four-day Beaconhouse Model United Nations (BMUN) Conference here on Wednesday.

The participants, who came from different cities, represented symbols of different countries at the first event, titled “global village”, and played their roles as future leaders of the countries. The students set up stalls of different countries and hoisted their flags, along with wearing their cultural dresses and displaying traditional items of their respective countries.

The Model United Nations replicates the system of discussion and debates of the UN, where youngsters are encouraged to participate in debates on current issues and present viable solutions to global issues. The event aims to improve the skills and leadership qualities of student, to enable them to compete in future as leaders of national and international organizations.

“We are providing opportunities to students to represent different countries as if they were the real leaders,” said a student of A levels, Umer Inayat, who is also the organiser of the event.

“The global village enables students to understand the culture, language and customs of different countries,” he said, adding that the participants are given multiple opportunities to debate on burning issues of the world. “The students participate in these activities as if they are real delegates,” he remarked.

He said such activities benefitted the students to get a better understanding of diplomacy and promotes leadership qualities in them.

During the event, different committees of the UN would be formed which include health, environment, economic issues and security. The members of these committees would debate on the current issues and pass resolutions with recommendations at the end of the discussions.

BMUN Patron Viqar Habib also said such activities were extremely important to improve communication skills among students and to provide knowledge regarding international politics and other social issues.

“The participants debate on all sorts of topics such as terrorism, global warming, and financial crisis which help them not only in getting a better understanding of these issues, but it also builds confidence among students,” he said.

Saima Habib, another student of A levels, said that the event provided an opportunity to students from different backgrounds to interact with each other and get to know about the traditions of different countries.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2011.