A number of students from EIS Jumeirah have qualified for the final round of the prestigious global debating competition – The World Scholar’s Cup and are now set to represent the UAE at the final in Bangkok in June.
Two teams, each of three students from Grade 10 – one made up of boys and one of girls – competed on March 23 2012 against the best schools in the country, by writing a series of essays, answering questions and debating a number of academic topics.
The Junior Girls’ team, which included Meher Malik, Arpine Jaghlasian and Anoushka Chowdary, won the competition outright for the Middle East. They also took away a number of medals and trophies.
The boys, who were Neil Tanna, Amulya Shanker and Simar Singh, also did exceptionally well winning seven medals in total and all of their debates.
Both teams have now been invited to participate in the global round of the World Scholar’s Cup in Bangkok in June, as long they have a parent accompanying them on the trip.
The girls’ team also came first overall in the Middle East round of the competition. Maher Malik won the title of ‘Overall Best-Performing Scholar’; while Anoushka Chowdary was third; and Arpine Jaghlasian came tenth out of over 300 students.
Maher Malik commented, “It has been, to put it lightly, an unforgettable experience. When my teammates and I first signed up, we had barely any idea of what exactly we were getting ourselves into.
“It started out as just another afterschool activity, but as we began to really work we gained a certain determination to accomplish something in the competition. The reason behind this probably being that we had to make all the hours spent studying, debating and shouting at each other worthwhile.
And she added: “The tournament was such a fun couple of days; we met new people and managed to get everything done without stressing too much. In the end, we did really well, winning more than we had ever imagined and having a great time along the way.”