Qatardebate - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

QatarDebate, a member of Qatar Foundation

Qatar Foundation

Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development is a government-funded, chartered, non-profit organization in the state of Qatar, founded in 1995 by decree of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar and chaired by Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned...

and the National Debating Organisation for Qatar

Qatar

Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...

, is a civic engagement initiative which aims to develop and support the standard of open discussion and debate

Debate

Debate or debating is a method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion...

among students and young people in Qatar and the broader Arab world.

Founding

QatarDebate was founded in September 2007 under the direction of Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Misned and the Qatar Foundation, with support from the team behind the Doha Debates.

In the last year and a half, QatarDebate has provided schools with numerous workshops, teacher trainings, and held debate competitions around Qatar. National Championships were held in both 2008 and 2009 at the school and university level. At an international level, QatarDebate selects and trains the Qatar National Debating team, which represent Qatar at various international tournaments including the World Schools Debating Championship.

Domestic programs and activities

Since its founding in 2007, QatarDebate has run workshops on debate for over 3000 students and faculty at over 30 different educational institutions across Qatar, within Education City

Education City

Education City is an initiative of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development. Located on the outskirts of Doha, the capital of Qatar, Education City covers 14 square kilometers and houses educational facilities from school age to research level and branch campi of some of...

and beyond. QatarDebate administered the first ever Qatar-wide debate league between schools and universities from February 2008, and ran National Schools and National Universities debating competitions attended by over 400 students in March 2008. The Qatar National Schools' Debating Competition 2008 was won by Doha College

Doha College

Doha College is a school located in Doha, Qatar. Doha College was founded in the 1980's and originally taught only British nationals. It has a student body of over a 1200 people from over 50 different nationalities. Doha College's current motto is Excellence for all, Excellence from all.The...

and the National Universities' Debating Competition 2008 was won by a team from Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. These national debating competitions take place annually.

QatarDebate is in the process of launching Arabic Debate, Training of the Trainers, and Primary Schools debate programs in Qatar.

International Program & Activities

At an international level, QatarDebate selects and trains the Qatar National Debating team. The team attended the 2008 World Schools Debating Championships

World Schools Debating Championships

The World Schools Debating Championships is an annual English-language debating tournament for high school-level teams representing different countries.In recent years, the championships have involved teams from over 40 nations each year.-History:...

in Washington DC in September 2008, winning 4 of their 8 debates, and in doing so setting a new world record for the best performance by a new entrant country in the competition. The Qatar team attended the 2009 Championships in Athens, Greece during February 2009. Qatar is currently listed as a 'B' Grade country on the World Schools Debating Championships

World Schools Debating Championships

A - D scale.

Qatar hosted the 2010 World Schools Debating Championships

World Schools Debating Championships

in February 2010, becoming the first country in the Arab World to host the competition, and attracting over 50 countries to the competition.

Film

The first Qatar National Schools Debating Team (2008) are the subject of an independent documentary film, 'Team Qatar', directed by Liz Mermin, which premiered in New York at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival

Tribeca Film Festival

The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...

and broadcast in the UK on the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.