National Debate League Launched in Cairo Univ.

Written by: Lina Hesham Abdalla

CAIRO, Nov. 16 (SEE)- The debating culture is back to Cairo University after a long disappearance since the 90s. The first ever student-run National Debate League in Egypt has been recently launched this academic year at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University.

The Great Debate is a platform where university students can learn the fundamentals of formal debating and practically apply the gained skills in three competitions that will be held throughout the year under the supervision of university's professors and professionals.

Informal debates have become a part of most students’ everyday life. New generations stopped taking things for granted and the trend now is to question, research, and discuss.

However, majority of the Egyptian students who studied in national schools had very little exposure to a formal debating experience.

There are always students who go an extra mile and possess a lot of skills, but still this is not the case for the majority of students who did not participate in activities outside school. Thus, the end result is that a lot of university students do not know how to construct a valid argument and defend it.

Even though there are students who have this talent of debating without any prior guidance, there is also a big portion of students who have the potential of being great debaters after receiving proper training.

Therefore, the Great Debate opens the door for both students who already possess the essential skills and students with no prior experience to participate in the quarterly competitions. For the students who had previous experiences in formal debating, they can sign up for the competition. As for students who are new to the debating community, they can apply to receive training before the competitions.

The main goal of the Great Debate is to enhance critical thinking skills of university students in Egypt under the slogan “Don’t hate it, debate it”.

The concept of critical thinking can sound very odd to many students in Egypt, especially STEM students who have never been exposed to classes in social sciences or philosophy.

And here comes the mission of extra-curricular activities that represent an outside the classroom learning zone for the students to learn new skills that is not necessarily academically related to their major.

Thus, establishing such a platform in Cairo University is an excellent step that will make a transformation to the way students think and communicate their ideas.

[caption id="attachment_23285" align="alignnone" width="375"] Lina Hesham Abdalla[/caption]