Four members of the debating club of Mt. St Mary’s Namagunga are set to represent Uganda in the 2025 Eurasian Schools Debating Championship (ESDC) to be held in Istanbul, Turkey.
The students won the opportunity after excelling in this year’s annual National High School Cross Fire Debating Competition which was held on September 30, at Lugogo Hockey Grounds in Kampala.
This year’s National High School Cross Fire Debating Championship attracted a total of 58 secondary schools countrywide, where Mt. St. Mary’s Namagunga in Mukono district emerged the overall winners.
The Chief Executive Officer for Quiz Malie Uganda Limited, Damalie Patra Acan, the organizers of the quiz said that among the prize package for the winning team is a participation next January in the Eurasian Schools Debating Championship to be held in Istanbul, Turkey.
The Namagunga team to travel to Turkey, next January includes the club’s Vice President Ahumuza Maria Agatha of S.3, Muganya Jennel, Kaate Daniella and Makokha Vivienne all of S.4, who won a laptop each, a trophy and a 10,000-litre water tank for their school.
The competition was held under the theme “Financial Illiteracy is the Primary Obstacle to Achieving Economic Take Off in All African Countries”.
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The quiz in which over 2,000 students participated, got underway by the traditional organisers M/S Quiz Malie Uganda Ltd, and sponsored by Equity Bank, Smile Plastics Ltd, Rosefoam Mattresses, Cine Events ltd, NTV and National Forestry Authority, with support from the Ministry of Education and Sports.
Mt. St. Mary’s Namagunga was followed by Ntare School and Seeta High School Mbalala campus in that order, with each getting prizes including a water tank and a trophy.
This year’s competition attracted 37 schools from the central region, six schools from the Northern region represented by St. Catherine Lira Senior Secondary School, nine schools from the western region represented by Ntare School, and six from the eastern region represented by Iganga Senior Secondary School.
According to the debate organisers, emergent issues during the various interface sessions included the fact that with financial illiteracy still abundant, economic take off is impossible, which makes it imperative they argued, that leaders take note of the urgent need to get all Ugandans on the learning course as we tread the journey of economic prosperity.
“In their presentations, the debaters variously exhibited that they had picked the need to sacrifice and focus their minds on specific things needed for the economy to earnestly take off in the right direction,” said Damalie Patra Acan, of Quiz Malie Uganda Ltd.
Asked how they got the debaters into the picture of the debate, Acan said they conducted prior training on the format through partnering with media agencies for wide broadcasts.
She told Kyaggwe TV that the end point is bridging any communication gaps, and added that this is how learners get compliant even at international meets like the one in Istanbul.
Last year, she added, the debate in Turkey attracted participants from 58 countries with Africa represented by Uganda and Morocco, and Uganda emerging in the fifth position. She thanked the Office of the First Lady for enabling the debate to take place at Lugogo Hockey ground.
Namagunga deputy headteacher, Rachael Kironde expressed gratitude at her students’ victory, noting that they have proved that they have a great potential.
Kironde attributed their victory to the fact that they got prior training in confidence, communication skills, team work and never faltering till success comes their way.
She said, “this is the result of the new activity-based curriculum, and we are optimistic they will excel further in their encounter with colleagues in Istanbul next January.”
Beaming with joy, the headteacher for Seeta High School Mbalala Campus, Boniface Ssebukalu said this is only the beginning and noted that the school is going to do everything possible to ensure that they perform even better next year.
“We are going to keep the fire burning by encouraging learners to always hold on tightly to what they have picked and use it as a tool for improving their performance next year and in subsequent years,” Ssebukalu said.
Receiving the prizes on behalf of the winners, the Vice President for Namagunga Debating Club Ahumuza Maria Agatha pointed out that telling from the level at which Africa is bedeviled by food insecurity, it is imperative that economic dialogue becomes the way forward.
Ahumuza said they are going to exploit the opportunity that has offered itself for them to interface with their colleagues from elsewhere, to share and compare notes on performance of other countries.
Her Seeta High School counterpart Taara Erin Mahooro, the President of the school debating club, implored African leaders to realize the importance of financial literacy for all in the struggle for dependable economic progress.
Last year, Namiryango College emerged the winners, while in the previous year, St. St. Joseph’s Senior Secondary School Naggalama emerged winners, and in 2021, Kibuli Senior School won. In 2020, Bishop Cyprian Kihangire Senior School was the winner, while in 2019, Nyakasura School emerged the best.
The Eurasian Schools Debating Championship (ESDC) is an annual open English language debating tournament for high school-level teams representing different countries that takes place in Robert College, Istanbul Turkey. ESDC 2025 will be held in Istanbul Turkey between 18-20 January.
