The rape and murder of a junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, the Delhi gang rape in December 2012, the Mumbai terror attack and the Paris Olympics were some of the many incidents that school students referred to as they lashed out against or defended the “media” in an inter-school international debate hosted by Calcutta Boys’ School.

For a generation growing on social media, the “media” in their debate topics referred to the more conventional print and electronic media.

At the 8th Clifford Hicks International Debate, young boys and girls debated on a variety of topics in the prelims, all of which had a central theme: the media.

“Media helped us to hold our hands together and walk on the path to demand justice after the rape and murder of a junior doctor at RG Kar.... The media did not flash any picture of the girl and respected the privacy of the girl’s parents,” said Adrija Gupta, a student at Assembly of God Church School Park Street who argued against the motion, the “media must not be allowed to report on ongoing criminal investigation”.

While Adrija came from almost next door, Zayaan Musthafa came from Our Own English High School in Al Ain, the UAE, for the debate.

He argued that Kim Kardashian (American media personality and socialite) was more in news than a global water crisis. Zayaan defended the topic: “The media is too focused on celebrity culture.”

A rain-soaked Thursday with the forecast of an impending cyclone could do little to deter the young minds and as many as 300 students from 80 schools from across the country and from the UAE and Nepal participated in the four-day debate held on the SN Banerjee Road campus.

In 2015, Calcutta Boys’ School initiated an inter-school debate in commemoration of the life and services of Clifford Hicks, who joined the school as a teacher in the late 1940s and made his way with “commitment and dedicated service” to the chair of the principal and secretary, an office he served from 1952 to 1974.

Hicks was “feared and revered” as a strict disciplinarian with a booming voice. A voracious reader and a nominated Anglo-Indian MLA in 1967, Hicks was “an understanding and extremely generous friend to all who needed help”.

He was an orator whose speeches in the school chapel as well as in the legislative Assembly were “inspiring, informative and convincing”.

The debate was held in two categories: Classes IX-X and Classes XI-XII. Seven teams from each category qualified for the finals, to be held on Friday and Saturday.

Debating is central to the culture at Calcutta Boys’ School, said principal Raja McGee.

“It promotes sensible thinking and the ability to express oneself within limited words while maintaining the parameters of decorum. It is a way to put across your point of view without offending others,” he said.

At a time when logical and dignified debating is fast disappearing, it is for schools to train young people in the art.

“We teach our boys to rationally present an argument, clarify their stance and have respect and recognition for other people’s views, something that will stand them in good stead later on in life,” said Riddhiman Halder, a senior English teacher at the school and a member of the organising committee.

What started withseven teams in the city in its first edition has 80 in itseighth.

“There are schools who ask us about the dates of this debate in the beginning of the academic session so that they can block those dates and book tickets in advance,” said McGee.