Singapore Team Comes in Second at the World Schools Debating Championships

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13 July 2007

SINGAPORE TEAM COMES IN SECOND AT THE WORLD SCHOOLS DEBATING CHAMPIONSHIPS

1. The Ministry of Education congratulates the team that represented Singapore in the World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) for emerging second in the championships held on 11 July 2007 in Seoul. Singapore emerged second to Scotland out of 35 participating countries, beating Australia, which had been champions for the past four years. This is the second time Singapore has reached the finals in 13 years.

2. The Singapore team comprised 18-year-olds Scott Tan (Victoria Junior College), April Cheah (Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)), Dana Miller (United World College), Jonathan Auyong (Raffles Junior College) and 17-year-old Samuel Cheam (Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)). The debate motion was: ‘This house would abolish the nuclear non-proliferation treaty’, in which Singapore was the Proposition.

3. The team has returned from Seoul last night.

Background

4. MOE selects national debaters to represent Singapore in international competitions including the WSDC through the ‘Junior Colleges Debating Championships’ (JCDC) which started in 1994. In 1995, MOE formed the first national debating team for the WSDC in Wales.

5. With the introduction of the integrated programme schools and specialised schools, the JCDC was renamed the ’MOE Invitational Debating Championship’ (MIDC) in 2007. MIDC now draws talent from junior colleges, centralised institutes, integrated programme schools, specialised schools, polytechnics and foreign system schools in Singapore. National debaters selected to represent Singapore in international competitions include Singapore citizens and permanent residents.