BFEC wins Inter-Secondary School debate

The Bregado Flax Educational Centre (BFEC) is the 2018 victors in the Inter-Secondary School debate.

The Virgin Gorda-based school defeated their competitor St George’s Secondary School to take home the win on April 19.

During the finals held at the Althea Scatliffe Primary School campus, the teams debated the moot, ‘Privatisation of the public sector will serve the public interest of the Virgin Islands’.

While commenting on the debate, Minister for Education Myron Walwyn said he was pleased with this year’s competition.

“Although we had some challenging times during this school year, we still wanted to keep the debates going because through events like these we are able to foster a higher level of thinking among our students,” he said.

“This is why we were deliberate in the topics that we chose. We wanted them to be current and timely so that the students could think and confront these issues as members of this community.”

The Inter-Secondary School Debates aims to develop effective communication skills among students. It also provides a platform for inter-school interaction and new friendships.

Debate series

The debate series started on March 14 with debaters from the Elmore Stoutt High School, the Virgin Islands Technical School, and the Robinson O’Neal Memorial Primary School going head to head on several topics.

They include: A parental escort policy should be enforced to restrict students under 18 from patronising public establishments during school hours; modern day natural disasters are a direct result of man’s unsustainable use of the environment; and alternative sources of energy can meet the energy demands of the Virgin Islands.