Girls Senior High School Wins DOAM Foundation Debate Contest

Funmi Ogundare 

Daniel Ogechi Akujobi Memorial (DOAM) Foundation recently held an inter-school debate competition for four selected senior secondary schools within Agege community, aimed at enhancing students academic performance and encouraging shared hard work.

The schools are: Government Senior College Agege, State Senior High School Oyewole,  Girls Senior HIgh School and Lagos Senior Secondary School Agege.

The competition which witnessed debaters speaking on  the topic, ‘Low Grades Who is to Blame: Teachers, Parents or the Students’, saw Girls Senior HIgh School, Agege, winning and smiling home with mouthwatering gifts.

In her remarks, the foundation’s Education Officer, Mrs. Ruth Nwachukwu emphasised the importance of collective efforts by  parents and teachers in ensuring the academic success of students, rather than putting the bulk of blames on parents or teachers.

She expressed excitement about the programme, saying that it has been able to  impact about 215 lives including students, teachers and education officers from the district.

She thanked the sponsors such as 7up, Niger Biscuits Limited, Beloxxi Industries  Limited, Viju Industries, Flour Mills and Saccvin Nigeria Limited for supporting the foundation.

The Senior Programme Officer, Catherine Olukotun highlighted the benefits of debate competition saying, “in today’s competitive space where excellence is a cliché, it is wise to make children aware as well as ready for the outer world. Perhaps, there are ways in which children compete and succeed. However, individual expression has become very limited. Today’s children are largely engrossed in technology, leaving behind the real interaction. This is why it is necessary to encourage children to participate in activities like debates.”

Such competitions, she added, have a long-term influence on the children’s self-expression, ensuring that they are  disciplined, responsive, logical and come up with evidence-based debates/arguments with another person. 

“When done right, such debates and argumentation can help children learn skills that can be used throughout their lives.”

Olukotun advised schools, parents/guardians to encourage children from their prime to participate in debate, saying that  It’s more beneficial to their development.

The competition witnessed a brain teaser game which saw nutritional items being distributed to all the students.