The motion debated on the day was Teacher's Professionalism Determines World-Class Education.
Johor Education Department's English Language Department principal assistant director Shanmuganathan Suppiah said 70 teachers who represented 10 districts took part in the competition.
Teams from Segamat and Kulaijaya booked their place in the finals.
Shanmuganathan, who has been a teacher for the past 29 years, said the event was held in conjunction with Teachers' Day celebrations.
The panel adjudicators for the finals comprised three officials who were affiliated to the state education department, an independent private educator, and a secondary school teacher.
Private educator and adjudicator, Vincent D' Silva, said the debate was styled after the parliamentary debate.
"The debaters took on the role of parliamentarians in a mock Parliament House," said D' Silva.
The one-hour debate opened with the speaker of the house spelling out the rules like timing, manner of reply, rebuttals and decorum which debaters had to follow.
The first speaker from the Segamat team who represented the "government", confidently presented the definitions and facts to support their case.
Adjudicator, Wee Kok Cheng, from Mersing district Education Office said a debater had to win points in the first and second round and not at the round-off in a debate.
"It is during the first and second round that the debater will have to show off his or her oratorial skills and substance," said Wee.
Shanmuganathan also said some of participants were first-time debaters.
"Under normal circumstances, a rookie debater might not be able to stand up against a seasoned debater," he said, adding that new debater, Diren Ashok Khandhar, 24, was an exception.
At several junctures of the arguments, debaters from both teams -- government and opposition alike -- were jousting for facts and rationale to make a point.
Both team displayed oratory fibre during the round-off and none, it could be seen, wanted to admit defeat.
Segamat was adjudged the winning team, while the best speaker was Diren from Kulaijaya team.
Debater, Shalini Baskeran, 31, from Segamat team, said her team was the better team.
"We were much lucid in our replies and rebuttals," said the English teacher.
Another debater from Segamat, Terry Yap Chee Keong, 33, said, he believed the team would win.
"As I see it, we cornered them at every angle," said Yap.
Yap added, his team will put their best foot forward in the upcoming national-level teacher's debate from today to Wednesday in Segamat.
Segamat's team coach, K. Jeyavani said the team prepared four topics in the run-up to the finals.
"We took a week practising our debate for and against in each given topic," said Jeyavani, who expressed gratitude to the other members of her team and the managers of the Segamat team, Prasad Rau and Kanalingam.
"I'm glad I won the best speaker. This reflects the effort I put in the debate and it is nothing less than my best effort," Diren said. He attributed his team loss to the lack of precision in voicing out relevant points and statistics.
"I believe we can win next year if we correct our mistakes. In terms of substance, both teams on the same level but as for fluency they trumped us," said Diren.
Shanmuganathan said the speakers this year were better as compared with last year.
"The debaters this time round were a more confident group," said Shanmuganathan.
He advised debaters from the losing team to keep improving on their weak areas. Johor Education Department's Academic Management Sector head Ramli Samat presented gifts to the adjudicators and team members.
Also present were officers affiliated to the Johor Education Department and the principal of SMK Dato Sri Amar DiRaja.
1 comment:
okay, lama tak bc blog abg wan!
ade kamu! :)
tahniah!
nak hadiah la! hahaha :p
next year, menang lg tau! ;)
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