The St. George’s Secondary School and Claudia Creque Educational Centre are the Inter-Secondary Schools’ Debate finalists.

The St. George’s Secondary School debated against the Virgin Islands School of Technical Studies on the moot: “Media Censorship is Needed in the British Virgin Islands”.

The proposition team from the St. George’s Secondary School was represented by Kiymeiah Millington, Hunter Christopher and Le’Amoi Biggs, while the opposition team from the Virgin Islands School of Technical Studies was represented by Anya Stevens, Gracelyn Pickering and Noah Spencer.

Millington, who captured the title of best speaker, argued that the concept of censorship of the media has often times been interpreted as taking away the rights of the media.

She said, “We, the members of the proposition, have concluded that the two terms are not synonymous. In fact, the terms are comparable to chalk and cheese. Rather than censorship taking away the rights of the media, censorship is really protecting the rights of all citizens, the media, as well as those it writes and speaks about.”

She added that censorship is about providing barriers and principles to safeguard citizens from obscene and unacceptable content.

Anya Stevens of the Virgin Islands School of Technical Studies argued that censorship, which is a global phenomenon, could have far reaching complications as it relates to small democratic locations such the Virgin Islands.  

She said that censorship erodes the democratic process that forefathers have fought for tirelessly.

The night continued with Claudia Creque Educational Centre defeating the reigning 2015 Inter-Secondary Schools’ Debate Champions, the Elmore Stoutt High School in a close-call debate on the moot: “Government of the Virgin Islands should enact Consumer Protection Laws”.  Latisia Smith was awarded the best speaker.

The judges’ said their decision was based on the soundness of points, logical development, audibility and clarity, personality, and command of the material.

The Inter-Secondary Schools’ Debate Finals will be held on Wednesday, March 15 at the Eileene L. Parsons Auditorium at 6:30 p.m.

The competition will be held as part of the Ministry of Education and Culture’s annual Education Week activities held under the theme, ‘Care for Me, Teach Me, I Will Learn’ and subtheme, ‘Shared Stories, Better Learning, Stronger Communities’.

The Inter-Secondary Schools Debates provide a platform where students can lend their voices to important topical issues through clear articulation and rational defence of an idea.
 

Photo Captions:

1. Best speaker of the debate, Kiymeiah Millington of the St. George’s Secondary School during her presentation. (Photo credit: GIS/Ronnielle Frazer)
2. Debate winners, Le’Amoi Biggs, Hunter Christopher and Kiymeiah Millington of St. George’s Secondary School. (Photo credit: GIS/Ronnielle Frazer)
3. Debate winners, Rondel Smith, Dayanara Rojas and Latisia Smith of the Claudia Creque Educational Centre. (Photo credit: GIS/Ronnielle Frazer)
4. Best speaker of the debate, Miss Latisia Smith of the Claudia Creque Educational Centre during her presentation. (Photo credit: GIS/Ronnielle Frazer)