On Wednesday, October 10, Catholic News had the pleasure of attending the finals of the inaugural Catholic secondary schools debate and, let me tell you, it really was a pleasure! The programme included not only the finals of the debating competition but also the presentation of awards.

The day dawned bright and clear, with lots of sunshine – but that was about to change. As things heated up inside the Pastoral Centre at Our Lady of Fatima RC church compound on Bushe Street, Curepe, things cooled outside.

As the young people got into the spirit of the debate, the rains came down. Curepe was flooded by 2.00 p.m. and it was a very eventful afternoon. The children got a kick out of taking off their shoes to wade through the water that accumulated just outside the door of the Pastoral Centre.

Six schools from three different divisions participated in the debating competition, which is intended to be an annual event. The divisions were South, East and North. Participating from South were Holy Faith Convent, Penal, and St Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando.

St Charles’ High School, Tunapuna, and St Joseph’s Convent, St Joseph, represented the East, while the schools from the North were Fatima College and St Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain.

The event began with an official ceremony, which included opening remarks by members of the head table, the National Anthem and prayers.

Fatima College

SJC (Port of Spain)

Cross section of the audience

Among those present were Msgr Christian Pereira (who delivered the feature address), Fr Reginald Hezekiah, Episcopal Delegate for Education Hazel Reis, Sr Adriana Noel O Carm and Cheryl-Ann Wilkinson from the Ministry of Education.

The first leg of the competition began with the schools from the East, who debated the topic, “Materialism is destroying family life in Trinidad and Tobago”. Proposing this idea was the debating team from St Charles’ High School.

St Joseph’s Convent (St Joseph) opposed this train of thought, refuting it by citing such things as “poor parenting” as being the cause for the breakdown in society – and they did a good job. In the end however, St Charles’ beat them by a “slight”, as the judges put it.

The next round involved the schools from the North (St Joseph's Convent, Port of Spain and Fatima College).

The boys of Fatima could not stand up to the girls of St Joseph’s Convent (Port of Spain) as they debated the same topic as the schools of the East.

The boys presented a very well thought-out argument, with sound statistical data to support their arguments, but the girls were so confident that the boys were intimidated.

So, even though Fatima’s arguments were good, they lacked the eloquence of St Joseph’s and so the choice was clear - the girls won in the North division.

Then, Holy Faith Convent, Penal, and St Joseph’s Convent (San Fernando) took to the stage. The South division had a different topic for debate: “Children who are exposed to violence will display violent behaviour when they grow up”.

Holy Faith proposed that this was true without a doubt, but they were no match for the San Fernando Convent as the pair of St Joseph’s girls tore apart every argument put forward.

Interestingly, while each of the other schools had four representatives, St Joseph’s, San Fernando, had only two! But these two girls were trained – they argued coherently, backing up all statements with facts and statistical data.

They argued passionately but the deciding factor for the judges, I think, was their elegance. The girls from St Joseph’s, San Fernando were very polite, very mannerly.

While Holy Faith resorted to sometimes downright catty behaviour, St Joseph’s maintained an even keel and finished their argument to thunderous applause.

Well, I shouldn’t have to tell you that St Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando, won overall. What with so many St Joseph’s Convents in the competition, one of them was bound to win.

Everyone seemed to support the judges’ choice, and the Episcopal Delegate for Education remarked that, “all of them can learn from San Fernando.”

Although in its first year, I must say the debating competition was very well organised. Unfortunately, the awards ceremony was rushed because of the downpour and a power outage.

The judges had to work hurriedly as the roar of rain and thunder threatened to block out all other sound. St Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando, had already left by the time they were announced as winners.

Kudos to Sr Adriana Noel, who organised the entire event. It was interesting, informative and exciting. Catholic News wishes to extend congratulations to all participating schools, and to the winners we say, “Keep up the good work. We can’t wait for next year!”