It was brainstorming at its best, where students had to stretch their mental and intellectual faculties to the hilt. You just had to be part and parcel of the nail-biting, nerve-wracking session and if you couldn’t, then you’d rather be left out.

Verbattle, a state level debate competition held at the RV Dental College last week, saw the best of brains come together. The questions were picked from among national and international politics, sports and international affairs. By the end of the session, most students Metrolife spoke to felt they’d done well in polishing their general knowledge.

While the senior slot saw 150 students, the junior category had not less than 300 participants. The show was hosted by Deepak Thimaya.  

The questions were carefully chosen, keeping in mind the age of the participants. Some of the questions were: Which is more trustworthy — a newspaper or television?, Can soccer unite India? and finally, should teaching science at high school level be optional?

The under-16 age group scored over the seniors, promptly and swiftly answering most questions. The senior debate competitions saw only a handful of people in the audience. Most participants were articulate and did well in expressing their views.

“We need to listen to our young girls and boys,” said Deepak and added, “we claim to be democracy, but we never give a chance to our future generation and possibly the next leaders to express their thoughts.”

Students felt the competition could have been better organised, “We had to pick and choose from a bunch of cards. We were given no choice but to talk on whatever topic we got, whether we were for it or against it,” said a participant and added in the same tone, “but I must say that it has been a great learning experience.”

Nishchit Hegde of SDM Medical College, Dharwad said, “I have read up so much on Indian and foreign politics, in the last two days, and it has surely enhanced my knowledge.”

Varun Shetty and Nishchit Hegde of SDM College of Medical Science, Dharwad, Ilhaam Ashraf and Angela M Rego of Sophia High School emerged winners in senior and junior categories respectively.