The Frank Anthony Memorial All-India Inter-School Debate
The Frank Anthony Memorial All-India Inter-School English Debate is held in the honor of Frank Anthony.
It is among the most prestigious inter-school, annual debate competition organised by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CICSE). Participants represent their schools and are divided into two groups (Category I for students of Standards XI and XII and Category II for students of Standards IX and X). Over 1,600 schools participate in the event each year.
The Debate competition is spread over three levels - Regional, Zonal and National Levels.
Each school sends two students from each group mentioned above. The topic is only revealed to the students an hour before the actual debate by way of opening a sealed envelope in their presence. This ensures that no pre-written material can be used in the debate. Students are expected to speak for a total time period of four minutes which is followed by two minutes of questioning and rebuttals. The students are allowed to and expected to refer to journals, magazines, and other books from the library during the one hour time to generate matter for their speaking time. No internet access or use of any electronic devices is allowed and referring to a written script during their speaking time is strictly discouraged.
The debate stands out from other debate competitions because of its highly competitive and elitist edge.
The debate is only open to CISCE accredited schools.
Various years of debate
2012
Round 3 - National
Category 2
| Date | Host School | Topic | Awards | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Best Speaker | Runner-up speaker | Second runner-up speaker | |||
| 25 September 2013 | Modern High School, Calcutta | The youth of today will follow the values laid down by the older generation | Jamnabai Narsee School, Mumbai | Parth Jayaram | Vedika Walia | |
2013
Round 3 - National
Category 2
| Date | Host School | Topic | Awards | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Best Speaker | Runner-up speaker | Second runner-up speaker | |||
| 25 September 2013 | The Frank Anthony Public School, Lajpat Nagar - IV, New Delhi | Most of the problems of students today arise from their unrestricted freedom | Jamnabai Narsee School, Mumbai | Kanishk Mittal | Maahir Shah | |
Category 1
| Date | Host School | Topic | Awards | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Best Speaker | Runner-up speaker | Second runner-up speaker | |||
| 25 September 2013 | The Frank Anthony Public School, Lajpat Nagar - IV, New Delhi | A world without discipline is lawless | Jamnabai Narsee School, Mumbai | Vedika Walia | Sidharth Nambiar | |
2014
Round 1 - Regional
The first round of debate of the year 2014 was conducted in the following schools and zones with the topic mentioned accordingly.
| Region | Date | Host School | Topic | Awards | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winners | First Runner ups | ||||
| West | 12 July 2014 | Gokuldham High School, Goregaon | "Can the Environment sustain the current rate of Industrialization ?" | Lilavatibai Podar School, Mumbai |
Hiranandani Foundation School, Powai |
| West | 12 July 2014 | Eklavya School, Ahmedabad | "Can the Environment sustain the current rate of Industrialization ?" | S. N. Kansagra School, Rajkot |
Anandniketan, Ahmedabad |
Round 2 - Zonal
| Zone | Date | Host School | Topic | Awards | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winners | First Runner ups | ||||
| West | 19 August 2014 | Bombay Scottish School, Mahim | " Can we Swap Thermal Energy for Nuclear Energy and save our environment?" | S.N. Kansangra School, Rajkot | None |
Round 3 - National
| Date | Host School | Topic | Awards | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winners | First Runner ups | |||
| 25 September 2014 | St. Gregorios High School, Chembur, Mumbai | The money spent in space research should be spent in protecting the environment | S.N. Kansangra School, Rajkot | - |
2015
Round 1 - Regional
| Region | Date | Classes | Host School | Topic | First Place | Second Place | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West | 15 July 2015 | 11th and 12th | Ryan International School, Kharghar | Today friends have replaced family | |||||||
| West | 15 July 2015 | 11th and 12th | Jasudbhen ML School Khar | Today friends have replaced family | St Marys ICSE School Koperkhairane:
Shlok Parida & Poornima Jacob |
Bombay Scottish High School | |||||
| North | 15 July 2015 | 10th | La Martiniere College, Lucknow | Competition leads to the death of Relationships | Winners: The Frank Anthony Public School, New Delhi
Jatin Jha and Oishani Chowdhary |
Runners Up: Scottish High, Gurgaon | |||||
| North | 15 July 2015 | 9th and 10th | Scottish High,Gurgaon | Competition leads to the death of Relationships | Winners: St.Stephen's School, Chandigarh
Pratham Kalra and Kavya Garg | ||||||
| East | 15 July 2015 | 9th and 10th | Delhi Public School, Megacity(Kolkata) | Competition leads to the death of relationships. | Winners: La Martiniere for boys, Kokata.
Vidush Sinha and Arka Chaterjee |
Runners Up: Our Lady Queen of the Missions.
Winners of Round 1 : La Martiniere for Girls, Kolkata Mihikaa Goenka and Anandini Saha | |||||
| South | 15 July 2015 | 9th and 10th | Competitions lead to the death of relationships. | Winners: Hari Sri Vidhya Nidhi School, Thrissur (Kerala) | Eleza Vinod and Sangeetha T.S | ||||||
Round 2 - Zonal
| Region | Date | Classes | Host School | Topic | First Place | Second Place | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North | 18 August 2015 | 9th and 10th | The Heritage School, Dehradun | Man is a social being in its true sense today like never before. | Winners: St.Stephen's School, Chandigarh
Pratham Kalra and Kavya Garg | |||
The Level I Debate was won by The Heritage School, Kolkata while Loyola School, Jamshedpur were the runners-up. The 2015 level II debate was won by Aayush Rathod and Shrutika Mane of the Smt. Sulochanadevi Singhania School, Thane and was held in Dehradun. Loyola School, Jamshedpur was the 2nd Runners-Up in this category too.
The first round of the debate in 2016 was on July 15th.