Hanoi Debate Tournament is a bilingual debate contest organized by Puzzles Ams - the debate club of Hanoi - Amsterdam High School. During its six years of construction and development, HDT has been gradually building a healthy argumentative community aimed at raising awareness, cultivating thinking and arguing skills for junior and high school students in the area, as well as the neighboring provinces. What is special about the tournament this year is the participation of nearly 200 contestants from Hanoi, neighboring provinces and contestants from Korea, Indonesia, etc.

On 1/4, the final round of the Hanoi Debate Tournament was held at Vinschool with the participation of four teams, competing in two divisions: English and Vietnamese.

In the English division, the WSDC Developmental Squad D team consisting of Nguyen Le Phuong Anh, Olympia; Le Hoang Mai Anh - Gifted School; Nguyen Ba Dung - Olympia has excellently won the championship. With the motion “The Government has banned private military contractors in armed conflicts,” the WSDC Developmental Squad D team stated, “Banning military contractors in armed conflicts will limit the probability of these contractors making spontaneous decisions to the people of the country. In particular, if military contractors engage in political contradictions, they would bring harm to both the government and citizens (not with the same political ideology), causing instability and interruption to the country's development.” With that in mind, members of the WSDC Developmental Squad D successfully persuaded the members of the adjudicators as well as those who watched the program in the hall.

Nguyen Le Phuong Anh, a member of the WSDC Developmental Squad D, the best debater of the tournament, shared: “Joining this competition is a great experience for me, because, here, I have met new friends and, above all, gained new knowledge of debate from the professional adjudicators themselves and the fellow contestants.”

The Vietnamese division witnessed the persuasive victory of Descendants team, including La Gia Long - Nhan Chinh High School; Tran Ha Chi - Hanoi - Amsterdam High School and Bui Lam Tra - TH School - outstanding individuals from the debate programme on television Teen School 2017. Against the motion "We will increase financial support for developing countries that receive large numbers of immigrants", with strong arguments, examples and solid teamwork, Descendants have proven themselves to be worthy of the final victory. They have proven that increasing financial support is imperative to sharing the burden of developing countries around the world as well as addressing the problems of immigration with a large number of people. Increasing support from 3% to 7% per capita will help developing countries not only economically but also contribute to improving their literacy rate.

As the victorious teams, team Descendants of the Vietnamese division and team WSDC Developmental Squad D of the English division will receive a prize of nearly 50 million VND in cash and a certificate from the organizers and the company The Global Citizen. Also within the framework of the tournament, the organizers awarded certificates to nearly 200 contestants, adjudicators and contributors.

Champions of the Vietnamese division Descendants

Champions of the English division WSDC Development Squad D

The tournament is organized under the World School rules, simulating the World School Debate Championship – an International School Debating Championship held annually in many countries around the world.

Hanoi Debate Tournament 2018 ended on a great note, completing its mission of creating a playground for students to improve their debate skills and spread the core values of debate to many young people.

Reporter: Tuong Minh – Chinese 1619

Translator: Vi Giang – Chinese 1720

Photos: Hanoi Debate Tournament 2018