By Pearl Sahibdeen
By Pearl Sahibdeen
Tangier – Last year, the MNDT made history by being the first North African debate team to participate in the World School Debating Championship (WSDC) in Bangkok, Thailand. With an eye set on raising the bar, the MNDT now strives to bring the world debating cup home to Morocco.
The Moroccan Debate Association (MDA) in partnership with the Great Debaters of Morocco (GDM), hope to host the WSDC in Rabat during August of 2017.
The MNDT, along with the United States, have officially submitted their bid for the right to host the event. This August at the WSDC in Singapore, the organizing committee will present the details of the Rabat proposal regarding the team MAX cap, potential venues and accommodations.
Going up against the USA, who have already hosted the event three times, presents a big challenge for the Moroccan committee. MDA/GDM will have to prove that this newly formed alliance of debate teams has the necessary support from the country if it hopes to host the world’s biggest high school debate competition.
The MDA has already hosted the first ever international high school debate competition in Morocco last December in Tangier, (see www.teammorocco.org/modt) and GDM, in partnership with USA-Debates, hosted the first ever international university debate team in March of 2014.
“The MODT gave us a chance to prepare to host the 2017 WSDC and to prove that we can accommodate even bigger events. Now we are hosting the continental competition, the African Schools in 2015 and 2016,” Mr. Choubani told Morocco World News.
Rabat was chosen as the host city because of its convenient public transportation system and proximity to the major international airport in Casablanca. Rabat also has some of the best university campuses in Morocco, and will be hosting the preliminary debates.
To assist with the preparation of the bid, the committee is grateful for the addition of Mehvesh Ahmed of Pakistan, who has previously participated in the WSDC as a debater, coach and adjudicator. Mehvesh was head of the adjudicator team in Thailand and will have the same role again for Rabat 2017.
Rabat 2017 aims to promote debate in Africa and hopes more teams from the continent will participate in the WSDC. In 2014, the WSDC saw only 4 teams from Africa participate, and most African nations were financially unable to book flights to Asia.
It is the ultimate objective of the MNDT to significantly increase the participation of African nations in the WSDC and raise the profile of the Moroccan national team to a level worthy of the nation’s pride.
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