One hundred and twenty students from across 40 secondary schools in Ogun State are set to lock horns in the second Park Inn by Radisson Inter-school Debate competition.
The contest is aimed at exposing students to research, critical thinking and public speaking skills.
The first round kicks off at Park Inn by Radisson, Abeokuta, on Monday, October 22, while the final is scheduled for February 28, 2019.
However, on Wednesday, last week, participating pupils and their teachers from public and private secondary schools selected across the Remo, Ijebu, Yewa and Egba sections of the state converged on the hotel in Abeokuta to ballot for their debate topics.
“I am very happy that we are very close to the beginning of the second edition and based on what we saw last year, I think it promises to be another very challenging, engaging and definitely educative experience for all of us,” said the hotel’s General Manager, Mr Kayode Aina.
He said the contest was initiated by the hotel last year as its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) tagged ‘Education and the Nigerian child’ in conjunction with Kola Obadimu Jr’s Playhouse to ‘confront the educational challenges’ in the country.
“As an international brand, we can’t just close our eyes to what is going on. We have to in our own small way try to make some kind of positive contribution to the betterment of the nation.”
Aina also appreciated the support of the state government to “select the participating schools and to train the debaters, judges and other officials on necessary skills to ensure flawless debates.”
The Director Education Support Services of the Ogun State ministry of education, Mr Akinsolu Itunu, lauded the initiative, saying it had buoyed the confidence of the students.
“They can go to anywhere to speak,” he said of the pupils who participated in the first edition.
Twenty schools in Ogun State participated in the first edition of the contest and the winner, pupils of Victorotti Private Secondary School, Idi Aba, Abeokuta – Taiwo Okeleye, Kehinde Okeleye and Mary-Ann Zubair – visited Kenya on a three-day all-expense paid educational tour in partnership with Kenya Airways and Park Inn by Radisson Nairobi.