Summary
Ahana Quazi of Class IX, Delhi Public School, Durgapur, walked confidently to the dais and began quoting lines from Rabindranath Tagore’s poem, 'Where the mind is without fear'
Ahana Quazi of Class IX, Delhi Public School, Durgapur, walked confidently to the dais and began quoting lines from Rabindranath Tagore’s poem, Where the mind is without fear.
Ahana argued that globalisation unites, and as people come together, they realise their uniqueness. Ahana’s speech earned her the first position, from Category I, in the finals of the Bengal School Debating – Star of the Year 2025 on December 15.
Many debating talents came to the fore at the third edition of the event organised by the Calcutta Debating Circle (CDC) in association with The Telegraph, Young Metro, the JIS Group and admissiontree. in.
The final round was held at Techno Main, Salt Lake.
Around 84 schools from across Bengal took part in the event. Fourteen finalists were selected from two-minute recorded speeches sent by the participants.
They covered three zones — North Bengal, South Bengal and Kolkata.
The competition was divided into two categories — Classes VIII and IX were clubbed in Category I, while Classes X to XII belonged to Category II.
On the final day, cardiac surgeon Dr Kunal Sarkar, also the founder trustee of CDC, was felicitated by Manoshi Roy Chowdhury, co-chairperson of the Techno India Group.
The judges for both categories were Raju Raman, an executive member of the CDC, educator Ipshita Barat and Mainak Biswas, a student of the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Sri City.
In Category I, six students debated the motion — The House believes that in the years ahead, globalisation will make us more nationalistic. Each speaker was allotted three minutes, followed by a one-minute rebuttal round.
The moderator was Pradeep Gooptu, managing trustee of the CDC.
Anaya Raha of La Martiniere for Girls said: “Globalisation creates partnerships, not partitions.”
The Class VIII student’s arguments won her third place. Sharanyo Chakraborty of Class IX, Delhi Public School, Newtown, bagged the second position. The senior category had eight students. They got five minutes to speak. The motion was — This House believes that truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.
The moderator was Shankar Ramalingum, a
CDC trustee.
Neilesh Ghosh, a Class XI student of Birla High School, opened the debate by stating that selectively arranged facts used to manipulate reality may appear truthful but are, in essence, deceptive.
Abhishikta Ghosh of Class XI, The BSS School, won from the senior category, followed by Riddhima and Neilesh.
Riya Halder
YM intern
Last updated on 01 Jan 2026
