The Frank Anthony Memorial All-India Inter-School English Debate is held in the honor of Frank Anthony.
It is an 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 making it 2nd largest debate tournament in India after Indian Debate League.
The Debate competition is spread over three levels â 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 and negatively marked
The debate is only open to CISCE accredited schools.
The first round of debate of the year 2014 was conducted in the following schools and zones with the topic mentioned accordingly.
The Category I Debate was won by The Heritage School, Kolkata, represented by Mohit Poddar and Sayantan Bhattacharyya. Mohit Poddar, of The Heritage School, Kolkata was adjudged the Best Speaker in the Finals. Loyola School, Jamshedpur were the runners-up.
The 2015 Category 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 15. The National Round was held on September 25. Loyola School, Jamshedpur was the only school to have qualified for both the category 1 and Category 2 of the debate.
The National Winners for Category 2 were Nitya K Nair and Megha N Nair from L'ecole Chempaka, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The Best Speaker was Nitya K Nair. The national runners-up were Adarsh Sriram and Shivali Shah from Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai.
The first round of debate of the year 2018 was conducted in the following schools and zones with the topic mentioned accordingly.
With the Diamond Jubilee of the council, the Frank Anthony memorial all India inter school debate competition's National finals were hosted in the Frank Anthony Public school, Delhi. The seniors round saw schools from all across India. The topic was "Famous dropouts are the ones that contribute most to society". The National champions were St. James' School Kolkata, represented by Rustam Biswas and Souti Mukhopadhyay. Souti Mukhopadhyay also won the award for best speaker in the finals.
Category (II) â Class IX & X
Round 2 â Zonal
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Category I <br> The topic for Category I was "The right to dissent is an integral part of any democracy." St. Jamesâ School, Kolkata won the national championship for the second consecutive year, represented by Souti Mukhopadhyay and Harsh Nawal. Souti Mukhopadhyay was awarded Best Speaker, making them the only participant to have won the title in two consecutive national finals. The Heritage School, Kolkata was declared second runner-up.
Category II <br> The topic for Category II was "India needs an autocracy and not a democracy." The team from Hiranandani Foundation School, Powai, Mumbai, comprising Mrigaanka Sharma and Advait Sangle, won the national championship. Mrigaanka Sharma was awarded Best Speaker, and Advait Sangle was named First Runner-Up (Speaker).