The 13th East India Debates 2017 were held at the Assam Valley School (AVS), Tezpur on September 18-20, 2017. 4 students: Sanjana Sheth (ISC), Niharika Salhotra (IB), Karan Samat (IB) and Pratika Nagpal (IB) participated accompanied by Ms. Jayanthi Nilakantan.

16 teams from different parts of the country participated in the Debates. The format followed was the modified Cambridge format, wherein there are 3 speakers- the lead speaker, the second speaker and the third speaker.

The teams were divided into 2 groups, 1 to 8 and 9 to 16. Each group was given a different topic.

On September 18, 2017, the opening ceremony was held where the school hymn was sung, following which the representatives of all the schools mounted their respective school flags on stands placed on the stage. The meet was declared open by Mrs.Mehta, the head of the school. There was an interesting ice-breaking session after which teams retired to the library for preparation.

In Prelim Round 1, we faced the Delhi Public School, Guwahati. The motion was ‘This house believes that today’s youth is wild and selfish’. Cathedral was opposing the motion and we won. Sanjana Sheth was judged the Best Speaker for the debate and Pratika Nagpal the Most Promising Speaker.

In Prelim Round 2, we faced the Assam Valley School (Team Green). The motion was ‘This house believes that third gender equality is a farce.’ We were the proposition and we lost the motion. Sanjana was judged the Most Promising Speaker for that debate.

In Prelim Round 3, we faced Sanskriti the Gurukul, Guwahati. The motion was ‘This house believes that religion is a stumbling block in a nation’s progress.’ We were team proposition and we won the debate.

Winning 2 of the 3 prelim rounds, we qualified for the quarter finals, where we faced AVS (Green) Team and the motion was ‘This house believes that Modi’s India is headed down a dangerous path’. Cathedral was the opposition. Despite solid statistics we were unable to convince the judges.

The finals saw a tough fight between the Shriram School and the Vasant Valley School. Besides being extremely composed rather than aggressive, the two teams organized the points very well amongst the three team members. This is definitely something we could work on.

A closing ceremony was held thereafter when awards were given to the Best Speakers of all the rounds. Each school was given a memento and all the participants were awarded participation certificates. After the Chief Guest’s speech, the flags were dismounted and the meet was officially declared closed.