British High Commission brings ‘GREAT Debate’ contest to Karachi

The British High Commission’s fifth annual GREAT Debate competition continued with the final regional round at the Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET) in Karachi, said a statement issued by the press office of the commission on Thursday.

The regional round in Karachi followed previous rounds in Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, Faisalabad and Islamabad. The competition featured 29 students from universities across Karachi.

At the end of an intense competition, Hafsa Tahir from the University of Karachi and Muhammad Shahzaib Khan from the Tabani School of Accountancy were declared the winner and runner-up respectively. The chief guest on the occasion was British Deputy High Commissioner Karachi and Trade Director for Pakistan Mike Nithavrianakis. The GREAT Debate competition is taking place from December 2019 to March 2020 in six cities across Pakistan.

Fouzia Younis, director of Communication at the British High Commission, said: “I am delighted to bring our GREAT Debate competition to Karachi -- the city of lights with a young population eager to learn and full of potential.

“The aim of our GREAT Debate competition is to support the next generation of Pakistan in discovering the value of debate, persuasion and discourse. I am confident the winner and the runner-up will do well in the grand finale in Islamabad in March 2020.”

This is the fifth annual edition of the British High Commission’s GREAT Debate competition. Since 2015, the competition has taken place across 15 universities and 12 cities in Pakistan. The previous winners of the GREAT Debate competition have included: Gaudhan Aslam from Forman Christian College in Lahore, Taha Ahmed from Aga Khan University in Karachi, Mohiba Ahmed and Haris Ali Virk from Government College University in Lahore.

What it offers

The GREAT Debate is a debating competition for university students. There will been six events – in six different cities (Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Faisalabad) involving students from leading universities across Pakistan – and the winner and runner-up of each round will compete in the grand final in Islamabad.

The winner and the runner-up of the overall competition will receive a scholarship reward to contribute towards their tuition fees.