Debating Matters India 2013 - Online Elimination Test Registration Open

Debating Matters is a rigorous, unconventional high-school debate competition running in UK from last 10 years and was introduced in India in 2008 by British Council, in partnership with the Institute of Ideas. 

Registration is open now for the Online Elimination Test.

The programme and project structure for Debating Matters India 2013-14 is given below:

Teams and Eligibility:

1. The competition is open to students from classes XI and XII of Indian Schools. Whilst registering Class XII students, the school must ensure that the pupil and his or her parents have been consulted and they know before hand that Debating Matters involves fairly rigorous preparation. Participants are strongly advised to look at the entire schedule of Debating Matters India, and not just the preliminary stages, before registering their names.
2. In Debating Matters, each school team consists in a minimum of four and a maximum of six members, and a teacher coordinator. Each debate will have 2 members to prepare to debate one side of the motion, not one for and one against.
3. As per the competition rules, each school has registered for Debating Matters with a minimum of 4 or maximum of 6 student members. As you are aware, it is compulsory for all schools to use all of their speakers for the various debates, which means
If school A has a 4 member (ABCD) then,
A and B will be debating at the knock-out stage
C and D will be debating at group stage 1
A and B will be debating at group stage 2
For the final stage, the school takes the liberty to choose any two from the four.
If school A has a 5 member team (ABCDE) then,
A and B will be debating at the knock-out stage
C and D will be debating at group stage 1
E and either A or B will be debating at group stage 2
For the final stage, the school takes the liberty to choose any two from the five.
If school A has a 6 member team (ADCDEF) then,
A and B will be debating at the knock-out stage
C and D will be debating at group stage 1
E and F will be debating at group stage 2

B. Topics/Topic Guides:

In Debating Matters we encourage students to argue on real-world issues. In the past students have argued on diverse agendas ranging from Free Speech, Commercial Surrogacy, Civil liberties etc. At every stage, each school is informed of their topics and which side of the motion its team will debate, well in advance. To prepare for Debating Matters we provide teams with topic guides at each stage of the competition. Topic guides are written materials that cover every aspect of the debate in question. Articles for the motion are equally well covered as those against the motion. The topic guides will be mailed at least three weeks in those schools who qualify at each level.

OET is an interactive phase designed to invite registrations from schools on a pan-Indian basis, after registering schools download the topic guide and appear for the online test that lasts for 60 minutes. Following are the steps to participate in first stage:

Registration
Schools need to register on the website

Main Events

• 10 July – 10 August 2013 Online Elimination Registration and Test The first stage of the competition, which invites registrations from across the country.
• 19 October – 20 October 2013 Battle of Ideas Festival, UK - Winners of DM India 201 – NPS Koramangalamtravel to London to participate at the Battle of Ideas festival. They will compete with their UK counterparts at an exhibition debate at the festival.
• 25 September – 27 September 2013 Regional Finals - 25 September (Kolkata and Chennai) -27 September 2013 (Mumbai and Delhi)48 schools (12 schools per region) from the Online Elimination Test proceed for the Regional Finals. Four regions will host the one-day Regional Finals across India.
• 29 November -30 November 2013 National Finals Eight schools from each Regional Finals will participate in the three-day residential National Finals which will be held in New Delhi.
• October 2014 2013 winners travel to London in 2014 Winners of DM India 2012 will travel to London to participate at the Battle of Ideas festival. They will compete with their UK counterparts at an exhibition debate at the festival

For further details on registration, topic guidelines and FAQ visit the Debating Matters India website.