At least 50 secondary school students from Amani club are expected to represent the country in a Pan Africa debate championship in South Africa on December 12 to 18 this year.
This is after the students emerged victorious in an East African debate competition that happened in neighboring Tanzania where 10 selected schools participated.
In the competition, St. Thomas of Kilifi County emerged victorious followed by Sigalame boys of Busia County and Ribe boys of Kilifi County respectively.
The Amani Clubs Kenya graced the inaugural Mwalimu Nyerere Schools invitational debate championship tournament of East Africa in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania where they represented the country in various categories ranging from debate, public speaking and essay writing.
The students got the opportunity to tackle topics including; peace, East African Integration and regional cohesion with the aim of improving their cognitive skills and merging co-curriculum activities with their conventional studies.
Speaking after returning to the country, the National organizing secretary Amani clubs Kenya, Kennedy Kunani said the clubs selected the representative students and teams from the lot that emerged top in the National debating championship that the club organizes countrywide.
“We usually host debating championships across the country and it is through that competition where we select the students and teams that represent the country in regional competitions,” he said.
Kunani added that in this year’s competition there were Ribe Boys, Musoli Girls, St. Thomas Girls, Mukumu Boys, Marereni Secondary and Sigalame Boys that participated and got awards.
Amani club was formed in 2016 by the National Cohesion and Integration commission (NCIC) in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MoE) to promote peaceful coexistence in learning institutions.
The club has been engaged in various activities including; conducting debates, environmental management and essay writing wholly aimed at encouraging coexistence in schools.
Kunani noted that through the Amani club they will ensure that students and teachers work together to resolve their issues to avoid chaos.
“Many schools reported indiscipline related concerns and the management of Amani club will ensure that students and teachers address their differences amicably to avoid additional disruption,” he added.
A student from Musoli girls, Patricia Madegwa, expressed her excitement for participating in the debate competition.
Madegwa said that the completion was not an easy one but it gave them an exposure and experiences on what the other students outside the country are learning.
“We had an amazing tour and as Kenyan students we have learned that our neighbors Tanzania are giving prestige to their former leaders like Mwalimu Nyerere and value their cultural heritage a great deal,” she said.
On his part Pascal Okai said that he was amused by the way the students were fluent in the English language giving Kenyans a hard time despite the obvious notion that they are fluent in Kiswahili.
Okai said that they tackled the task with international schools from the city of Dar es salaam.
By Chari Suche and Andrew Hinga
