Two female students of the Institute of Business Administration will compete against the Asia-Pacific region’s most eloquent young women in the four-day Australian Women’s Debating Championship.
Maham Aftab and Myra Saeed, both second-year BBA students at IBA, will compete against teams from New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and India.
The competition, which started in 2001, is being hosted by the Melbourne University’s debating society and will start from September 21.
The IBA Public Speaking Society (PSS), which, according to Saeed is one the most active debating societies in the country, received an invitation from the host earlier this year. The society then launched a campaign within the institution to select its finest orators.
After going through a selection process of almost two months and outshining the rest at ITERATE 2012, IBA’s annual debating championship, both girls were officially chosen to represent Pakistan in the competition. The tournament follows the British Parliamentary style in which two teams speak for a proposed motion from the government bench while two others speak against it from the opposition bench. Each team has two speakers are given seven minutes, Saeed told The Express Tribune.
“This opportunity can be career-defining for these girls and will provide them valuable international experience,” said the society’s patron, Nadia Sayeed.
Money matters
The students’ participation in the competition, however, was made possible through partnership with a pharmaceutical company, OBS Healthcare, which offered full financial support. The participants appreciated the contribution by the company and hoped to do the same for others.
“When we come back, hopefully after winning the competition, we hope to work towards making a difference in others lives as well,” said Saeed.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2012.
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IBA is the best!!
Go IBA GO, You might not be able to get your students job security anymore but still we are proud of you
Best of luck, girls. Do us proud. :)