Seventy-two high school students from 24 high schools wowed audiences and judges during a preliminary round of an English debate competition on the first day of "Youthspeak Fun Day" on Friday.
The debates, held at Bina Nusantara high school in South Jakarta, saw teams of three demonstrating their argument skills and stance, with topics covering the United States foreign policy and health issues.
The students, acting as government officials, heated up debates by strongly defending their own interests in certain areas.
SMA 4 from Malang, East Java, for example, argued that the US was too involved in the Iranian nuclear issue. They said it was Iran's right to develop nuclear technology. Meanwhile, the opposition from SMA 2 in South Tangerang pointed out that enriched uranium is dangerous and could be used to develop nuclear weapons that put the world at risk.
Each team member was given the opportunity counter arguments from their opponents. The adjudicators and moderators were volunteer college students with extensive experience in English debates.
Most debate contestants came from schools in Greater Jakarta, but there were also schools from other cities including Bandung and Malang.
The debate competition is part of the three-day Youthspeak Fun Day event organized by The Jakarta Post's Newspapers in Education program with support from the US Embassy in Jakarta (among others).
On Saturday, 70 students will take part in the preliminary round of a news reading competition, and at least 100 students will take part in a spelling bee.
The final rounds of the com-petitions will be held at Inter-national Sports Club Indonesia in Ciputat, Tangerang, on Sunday from 9 a.m..
Apart from the English debate, news-reading contest and spelling bee, Youthspeak Fun Day will host several other competitions including a photography contest, a song lyrics and music contest and an essay writing competition, with around 300 junior and high school students taking part.
The Sunday event will also feature a music coaching clinic, hosted by local pop group Music For Sale; a workshop from Metro TV's anchor Ralph Tampubolon; various games; and a special performance from popular band Ran.
Source:
www.thejakartapost.com
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