Winners in International Arabic School Debating Championship honoured

The sixth International Arabic School Debating Championship concluded Monday, with Team Kuwait winning the tournament's title, after it defeated its Jordanian counterpart, which finished in second place.Team Algeria secured third place following a fierce competition with Team Qatar for the position.Team Singapore won first place in the Arabic language category for non-native speakers, after defeating its Indonesian counterpart, which came second.Assistant Undersecretary for Private Education Affairs at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education Omar Abdulaziz al-Naama and Executive Director of QatarDebate Hayat Abdullah Marafi honoured the winners of the tournament and best speakers.On the occasion, QatarDebate executive director said that under the sponsorship of Qatar Foundation, QatarDebate has been able to advance the debate culture globally, in addition to enhancing the status of the Arabic language among young people.She remarked how school students who had participated in previous tournaments are now debating coaches and arbitrators, and added that they are people who believed in the culture of debate and in striving for truth and the acceptance of otherness, as well as spreading this message all over the world.Finally, Marafi pointed out that QatarDebate published this year a new series of teaching books and curricula on the art of debate in both Arabic and English, as a contribution to spreading the art.On the sidelines of the tournament, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Oman Debate Center Firas bin Fatik bin Fahr al-Said and Executive Director of QatarDebate Hayat Abdullah Marafi signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on strengthening the partnership between both parties.This MoU comes as an enhancement of co-operation between the Oman Debate Center and QatarDebate, with the latter being one of the most important partners of a programme launched by the Oman Debate Center, for a period of two years to train debate coaches, in addition to organising the Asian Arabic Debating Championship and national championships in the Sultanate of Oman.