Singapore wins international debating competition
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Singapore has come out tops in an annual international debating competition which featured participants from 53 nations this year.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) announced the win and congratulated the Singapore team on their victory in a statement on Thursday.
The World Schools Debating Championships, which is the largest international tournament for debaters aged 14 to 19, was held here over 10 days from July 27. It ended on Thursday.
The five-member Singapore team consisted of Arthur Lee ,17, from Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), Bryan Yan, 17, from Hwa Chong Institution, and Chong Ee Hsiun,18, Ernest Goh,18, and Samuel Loh,17 from Raffles Institution.
They were led by their coach, Mrs Geetha Creffield, Head of Department for Arts at Anglo-Chinese Junior College, and team manager Miss Evelyn Woels, senior curriculum specialist at MOE.
Bryan and Ernest also garnered top accolades for their overall performance in the competition by ranking 4th and 8th respectively out of 250 competing debaters.
Mrs Creffield said: " I am very proud of the students, who have shown extreme grit and determination, made full use of their skills and knowledge, as well worked hand-in-hand as a team despite the challenging process."
The team from Canada was at the second spot, while Pakistan came in third.
This is the second time time that Singapore has won the competition, which is in its 27th year. Singapore scored its first victory in 2011 when the competition was held in Scotland. The Republic has been a regular participant in the competition since 1995.
Each participating nation submits a team of five students to debate social, moral and political issues.