KIDs BP 2019 Champion (Abusement Park)

KIDs BP 2019 1st Runner up (HELP International School/St Joseph)

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Finals Best Speaker (Vaishnavi Maya)

By Davin Dhanraj

Compelled to enrich students’ learning experience, this year once again, UOW Malaysia KDU University College organized UOW Malaysia KDU Interschool Debates British Parliament or commonly known as KIDs BP, an annual debate tournament held from 5th of July until 7th of July. The tournament served as a platform to develop critical thinking skills in students especially in creating a solution for current issues and to get students engaging more purposefully with their readings.

This year, a total of 48 teams from Sri KDU, SMK Damansara, Nobel International School, SMK Sri Permata, Kolej Tuanku Jaafar, Help International School, SMK Hidayah, Taylor’s International School, IGB International School, Catholic High School and Podium Academy registered for this competition. A total number of five registered under composite and independents team respectively. The tournament began with Roll Call for the first round and the teams then adjourned to their respective classrooms for the first round of the debate. On the first day, the tournament ended with only round 1 of the debate tournament.

The second day of the tournament, the event began tentatively earlier to account for an extra round. Subsequently, four debate rounds were carried out to complete the five preliminary debate rounds. With only 16 teams qualifying for the quarterfinals, the tournament intensified as students competed to argue their cases, striving for victory. Only eight teams managed to proceed to semi-finals and was followed by the grand finals which comprised four teams. The four teams that managed to make it to the finals was composite team which was team GGEZ and Abusement Park, Team KTJ (Kolej Tuanku Jaafar), and 1 team from HELP International School.

The much awaited moment then arrived as Vaishnavi Maya and Vishnu A/L Indran from Abusement Park emerged as winners, followed by first runner up, Joey Chee and Valentino Tew Yao Sean from HELP International School/St Joseph and second runner up, Tan Jia Man and Sidney Marie Chin from Kolej Tuanku Jaafar. Shadric Daniel and Amierullah Iqram from Team GGEZ managed to secure the fourth placing respectively.

While the Best Speaker was awarded to Sidney Marie Chin who also happened to be the second runner up for this tournament, Vaishnavi bagged another award for the Final Best Speaker. The Top 10 Best Speakers were being awarded to Jerome Bun Zhi Cheng from Team Prefects (HELP International School), Tan Jia Man (Kolej Tuanku Jaafar), Shadric Daniel & Amierullah Iqram (Team GGEZ), Annabelle Chin Sin Yuin (Sri KDU), Valentino Tew Yao Sean (HELP International School), Yap Cheuk Lam Micheal (Sri KDU) and Lim Man Rou (Independent Team).

In conclusion, this was indeed an insightful experience for these students as they were able to improve abstract thinking, research, reasoning, and even public speaking skills. Debating requires a skill set that translates directly into academic, social and professional application. It evidently develops creative thinking, problem-solving, active listening, critical analysis and prioritisation, as well as the character attributes of resilience, empathy and, most importantly, confidence!