Date:27 Jul 98

SIA JC Debates 1998

The Ministry of Education and Catholic Junior College are jointly organising the SIA JC Debates 1998. Each of the 14 junior colleges will field one debating team. The preliminary rounds are held at Catholic Junior College.

2 The quarter-finals to the final of the debate series will be telecast on TV12 every Friday from 7 Aug to 18 Sept 98 at 8.30 pm. Through the telecast of the debates, the Ministry aims to raise the level of interest in debating among Singapore youths. The Ministry will select outstanding debaters to form a team to represent Singapore at the 11th World Schools’ Debating Championships to be held in England in Feb 99. Good speakers who have been recommended by the judges in the various rounds of competition will be invited to take part in a separate selection round to select the team.

3 The debates series, sponsored by the Singapore Airlines and telecast over TV12, will adopt the format of The World Schools’ Debating Championships. Each team will consist of three speakers who are given eight minutes each for their speeches. During the course of a speaker’s delivery, members of the opposing team may interrupt a speaker to offer points of information if the speaker is prepared to give way. It is a formal interjection allowing a speaker offering the point the opportunity to attack his opponent. It is up to the speaker concerned to accept or reject a given point of information. This element makes the debate spontaneous and exciting. Thereafter each team is allowed two minutes to confer with their team researcher before the first or second speaker makes a four-minute reply speech to close their case. No new contentions should be made during the reply speeches.

4 The preliminary rounds and the final are prepared debates and the motions are released one week prior to the date of the actual debates. The quarter-finals and the semi-finals are impromptu debates where a motion will be released 90 minutes before each debate is due to begin.

5 Judging of the debates is based on the content, style and strategies that is presented by the participants. It will be carried out by a panel of three judges per debate.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

SIA JC Debates 1998

The Participating Junior Colleges

Telecast of SIA JC Debates over TV12

Day: Every Friday
     Time: 2030 h - 2200 h

Important Note:

As the date of recording of each debate precedes the date of its telecast by as much as four weeks, please note that the result of each debate should not be published in any news story until after its telecast date.