Earth Day 2022 – Interclass Debate
The Earth Day celebrations on 21st April 2022, initiated with an enthralling Interclass debate for students of Grade 12, were held in the auditorium. Students pondered upon the prompt ‘Does Space need to rescue man from his doing, or should man restore his environment and save space from himself?’. Students were divided into 2 teams of 4 students from respective classes, advocating For and Against the motion. The debate was judged by the ingenious faculty environmental specialists, Ms Anjum Hassan and Ms Elizabeth Surya and moderated by Lowell Monis (12I) and Maahika Malkani (12C).
The teams were as follows:
Girls Event:
| Team For | Team Against |
| Saraswathi Iyer – 12 C | Khyati Saxena – 12 B |
| Shwetambari Abhirajan – 12 B | Sajal Bhat – 12 A |
| Anushka Agnihotri – 12 D | Manya Narula – 12 E |
| Angelina Vadivelu – 12 G | Ardra Benjamin – 12 F |
Boys Event:
| Team For | Team Against |
| Rohit Rarichan – 12 I | Nityaansh Parekh – 12 J |
| Rishabh Jotwani – 12 J | Akshit Kumar – 12 L |
| Aritro Roy – 12 H | Lakshya Lahoty – 12 N |
| Raunak Raghavan – 12 K | Satvik Kalra – 12 M |
An exemplary exchange of ideas took place between both the teams, deliberating the advantages and disadvantages of space travel. Both the teams exhibited a strong rapport and competitive spirit while extensively building a case for their stance. From 2 rounds of speeches, followed by rebuttals and closing off with final remarks, participants wowed the crowds with their unique perspectives and excruciatingly detailed ideologies and orations. The audience of fellow dipsites could not help but become an active part of the discussion, questioning and discussing the world’s future outlook with the participants. The competitive nature of the debate ignited the interests of judges and moderators alike, as they partook in the Questions and Answers round, sharpening the critical and analytical thinking skills of the students. The conduction of the debate was the summation of the determined effort of the passionate members of EcoGen, the school’s environment hub.
The result of the debate was carefully based upon parameters of delivery, content, style and cohesion. The debates resulted in an extremely narrow margin of selection between the two teams. The Against Team triumphed in the Boys’ debate while the For Team took the top place at the podium in the Girls’ debate. The best speaker awards went to Nityaansh Parekh (12J) and Shwetambari Abhirajan (12B) respectively.
The debate was an extremely successful event resulting in the spread of responsible awareness and inculcation of notions and restoration, growth, and harmony for us and the planet.
The event could not have been possible without the guidance of our Headmistress, Ms Beena Rajeev and Environment in-charge, Ms Shilpi Mathur. We thank all the EcoGen volunteers (Aarush Kalra, Krish Sharma, Ashish Jacob, Safaa Mariam and Rishita Sinha) for their commitment and hard work.
