Bengal School Debating Star of the Year: Social media, saviour for some, poison for others

A family out for dinner prefers to scroll their phones rather than talk to each other...Stalking a spouse’s phone leads to more cases of divorce...There are fewer friends and more contacts who give you depression and an aspirational lifestyle...

These were some arguments placed by a proposition against social media. But, a powerful opposition showcased how the fault lay in us rather than on a digital platform.

The finals of The Telegraph Young Metro presents Bengal School Debating Star of the Year, in collaboration with the Calcutta Debating Circle (CDC), saw 16 students from Calcutta, North Bengal and South Bengal debating the motion — Social Media Has Corrupted Inter-Personal Relationships.

Sponsored by Narayana Group of Schools, in association with MCKV and powered by JIS and Techno India Group, the event was held at Vidya Mandir Auditorium on December 8.

Moderated by Dr Sandeep Chatterjee, a trustee of the CDC, the first edition of Bengal School Debating Star of the Year aimed to find more debating talents from the state from over 500 entrees covering three zones.

Last week, six students from the Calcutta schools locked horns with four each from the South Bengal and North Bengal zones. The judges were trauma and orthopaedics surgeon Dr Baijaeek Sain, journalist Abhijit Dasgupta and author Priyam Marik.

Sheersha Banerjee of Class XI from Garden High School had opened the proposition side in the semi-finals. In the finals, she was the last speaker from the opposition. She compared social media to cough syrup — a saviour for some and an addiction for others. “There is a fault in the way we think,” said the girl, whose witty analogies, anecdotes and rebuttals at the fag end of the debate got the audience cheering. Sheersha went on to bag the champion’s trophy followed by Nikhilesh Mukherjee of Class XI, La Martiniere for Boys, and Aishee Majumder of Class XI, Sushila Birla Girls’ School.

Speaking on similar lines as Sheersha, Nikhilesh cited the instance of a female-preying mantis, an insect that kills its mate after mating. “Negativity, discrimination and corruption have been part of our relationships since time immemorial. Inter-personal relationships encompass myriad emotions. Wherever there are inter-personal relationships, there will be corruption because of the human psyche” he said.

Nikhilesh’s retort in the rebuttal round was as sharp when he spoke about the energetic participation of youth, in activities such as debates, despite social media allegedly numbing minds.

Aishee began from the proposition side, highlighting how toxic social media can be and the ills of passive scrolling.

Trolls, hate speeches, bullying, depression and cat-fishing (impersonation) were touched upon by the proposition speakers. The opposition spoke of the pandemic and how people got help even from strangers, thanks to social media.

The motion stood defeated by a show of hands from the audience.

Deepnita Goswami of Class XI, Modi Public School, Siliguri, and Manraj Singh of Class XI, Holy Rock School, Burdwan, also got special awards from the North and South Bengal zones.

“Debates are very important for students these days. They need to have a voice, and this is a great initiative,” said MCKV chairman Kishan Kumar Kejriwal.

“I was blown away by the students’ confidence. Seeing students from all over Bengal speak so confidently was a great experience. I especially enjoyed the top,” said Manoshi Roychowdhury, co-chairman of the Techno India Group.

According to Priyanka Mukherjee, academic head of the Narayana Group of Schools, debates should be given importance in schools. “We have debates and public speaking clubs in our school, and it has done wonders for them,” she said.