Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: British High Commissioner Thomas Drew CMG has said Pakistanis have a lot of talent and he was impressed by the great skills of debate of Pakistani students.

He was addressing the final of the GREAT Debate 2016 competition organized by the British High Commission. The event was attended by Chevening Scholarship alumni, members of the media and senior officials from the British High Commission and British Council.

Thomas Drew said that this is the second consecutive year that British High Commission has conducted the GREAT Debate. He said that he was delighted this time to have been able to increase nation-wide footprint to include debaters from Baluchistan and Gilgit-Baltistan.

“Today I have witnessed bright young people from across Pakistan debate topics of great importance to Pakistan’s future. I congratulate all the finalists and in particular the winner and runner-up. I urge all of the participants to use the GREAT Debate as a springboard to go and achieve great things for Pakistan”, he said

After an exciting three rounds the winner was judged to be Taha Ahmed from the Agha Khan University and the runner-up was Noor Tauqeer from the Karachi University.

The judges were included British Deputy High Commissioner Patrick Moody, Head of British Council Pakistan Rosemary Hilhorst, BBC producer and Chevening scholar NazishZafar and senior BBC producer Philip Palmer.

The audience witnessed a high intensity and quality competition between ten of the top debaters from across universities in Pakistan who spoke for and against topics that concern the future of Pakistan.

On the occasion Head of British Council Pakistan Rosemary Hilhorst said that the art of debating is of the greatest importance in today’s world and it is heartening to see the quality of debates in Pakistan improving significantly through initiatives like the GREAT Debate.

Talking to Daily Times Rosemary Hilhorst said that standard of the debates was quite high and judging was also very difficult to ascertain who has won. Contestants demonstrated skills of language, arguments and fact figures.

She said that though British High and British Council are arranging every year debates yet here in Pakistan school, colleges and universities needed to arrange these type of events.

She said that debates not only improve the skills of the students but also enhance the knowledge and understanding the subjects.

The winner of the GREAT Debate Taha Ahmed from the Aga Khan University said that he was thrilled to win the debate competition and would like to thank the British High Commission for organising this event and giving aspiring debaters like me this fantastic opportunity.

The scholarship money for this year’s event has also been increased with the winner and runner-up to get £3,000 and £2,000 respectively.

Noor Tauqeer toldDaily Times said that she is student of English department at Karachi University. “I feel exhilarated after listening to the announcement for second position. It was also challenging task, which I did wonderfully.

The GREAT Debate 2016 is a debating competition for university students. There were semi-finals – in different cities (Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar &Gilgit) involving students from universities from across Pakistan and the winner and runner-up of each semi-final competed in the final in Islamabad.