MACKENZIE High School emerged winner at the final round of the 2010 National Tobacco and Alcohol Debating Competition, held Wednesday at the National Library in Georgetown.
The winning team from Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice) was pitted against Abram Zuil Secondary from Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), proposing the moot ‘Direct and Indirect Advertising and Sponsorship by Tobacco Companies have an effect on the Public’.
All of the competitors eloquently delivered their points, as the team from Mackenzie High, comprising Carlissa Blair, Rukia Henry and Andrea Park, in support of the moot, examined the economic consequences of advertising, discussed the socio cultural influences of advertising, and highlighting the psychological impact of advertisements and sponsorship on the public.
The opposing group from Abram Zuil Secondary, Candace Daniels, Mario James and Urmilla Rajwantie, equally convincing, held that during the early 19th century, tobacco was being used even though there was no form of advertising or speedy communication. They pointed out that peer pressure is a dominant contributing factor to tobacco use and stressed that many persons use tobacco for medicinal purposes.
After the two rounds of exchanges and a brief reprieve for deliberations, the judges, Ms.Donna Hamilton, PRO at the Ministry of Health; Ms. Nichola Butts, and Chief Judge Asif Khan, pronounced that Mackenzie High School was indeed the better team and as such was the overall winners of the debate series, an announcement that provoked applause of approval.
In his address to the gathering, Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, extended his profound gratitude to the participants as well as the teachers for their assiduous efforts that went towards making the event a success.
Continuing, he emphasised the importance of maintaining healthy lifestyles.
He said, “When we speak of living in a developed country, we need to understand that there is no such thing without health.Our job at the Ministry of Health is to promote healthy lifestyles,” he said.
Ramsammy revealed that in order to increase the life expectancy in Guyana from 70 to the projected 75 in 2015, persons will be required to make conscious changes and adopt healthier practices.
“You need to adopt responsible behaviours by making responsible chioces,’’ he encouraged.
The Minister also encouraged the gathering to be responsible in their sexual behaviours as well, since irresponsible conduct could lead to premature death.
Ramsammy advocated, “We are all our brothers and sisters keepers and we need to work together to have a better life and to remember that tobacco is a bad commodity and no amount is safe.”
The National Tobacco and Alcohol Debating Competition 2010, launched in September, focused on raising awareness of the problems of tobacco and alcohol use among schoolchildren, and sought to empower them to make positive decisions.
The six-week competition was a collaboration between the Health Ministry and the Ministry of Education and was held under the theme “Think health, not drugs.”
Sixteen schools drawn from Regions Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Six (East Berbice Corentyne) and Ten (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice) participated in the competition.