Feature

BRAC-NSD Intra School Debate Competition Held

'Juktir Aloke Khuji Daridro Bimochoner Poth'with the motto and the slogan 'Work Together to Improve Ultra Poor's Livelihood', Intra School Debate Competition-2010 was held in the auditorium of The New School Dhaka in its Banani premises on Thursday, 29 April 2010. The competition was organized by BRAC Advocacy and Human Rights Unit (BAHRU) as an initiative to create awareness among the school children about the plight of the ultra poor and involve them in the future endevours of poverty alleviation in the country. This was the first of a series of programmes that BRAC is going to do with schools of Dhaka City in the first leg of a nation-wide initiative. Dr Asif Nazrul, Professor of Law at Dhaka University was present as the Chief Guest.

After the inauguration of the programme by the School Principal Lt Col Mahmud Ul Alam (Retd) PhD, a video called 'Prochesta' was shown to the school children that featured some ultra poor families and their fight for survival. It also featured experts' opinions about ways to address the Ultra-poverty issue.

The video show was followed by the final round of the debate competition in which Class VII debaters of the school contested against the Class XII debaters on the motion “Personal awareness and social participation is the key to sustainable poverty reduction”. The position debaters of Class VII emphasized the role of NGO's, Corporate Businesses and Benevolent people in the effort to reduce poverty.