SECONDARY school students were able to voice their opinions about four topical matters as the first round of debates in the fourth annual Youth Parliament was held on Wednesday at the Parliament Chambers.

The students debated four motions: Augmenting efforts to combat climate change; A healthy eating policy for schools; Enhancing the education sector and finally, Amending the Representation of the People’s Act (Chapter 1:03) to include youth participation.

Addressing the students at the end of the first set of debates, Speaker of the National Assembly Dr. Barton Scotland noted: “A great deal is to be learnt from the way you applied yourselves.”
He commented particularly on the motion to include youth participation, where the opposition proposed that Chapter 1:03 of the Representation of the People Act be amended to include one-third of youth candidates while the government called for this number to be one-fifth.

“The youths who spoke against giving the one-thirds [representation] did very well,” Dr. Scotland said, especially since what they were doing was debating against themselves as youth.
And this, he said, “Speaks to the sort of discipline you are acquiring, quite beautifully.”

Debating over the four motions allowed the pool of young students, all in secondary schools, to voice their opinions on matters of national interest. It also allowed them to exercise their own debating skills.
Shaquawn Gill was one who exercised his powerful debating skills and managed to change the narrative from a consideration of a health policy to prohibit carbonated beverages and oily foods from schools to focus on the stark condition of teenage pregnancy and sexual and reproductive health in Guyana. At the end of his presentation, it seemed as though the house had forgotten for just a minute what the motion being debated actually was.

Members from the opposition also championed that this restriction would severely affect single-parents and financially-challenged families and instead lead to an increase in unemployment and crime. The government fought against this by advancing that a healthy youth population is critical to the development of the nation.

The shadow minister of education, Arifa Ahsidally, led the motion that the current education sector is in need of revamping. Education, for her, is “the foundation on which society is built” and she called for critical improvements in the sector in areas such as inclusive education for those children with special needs and the need for more focus on ICT.

Her colleagues in the opposition ably supported her and illustrated just how critical the need to revamp the system was. Members of the government, however, contested this by highlighting the education system has been producing top-tier students who have become giants in the Caribbean region.

Prime Minister Jordan Kelman, who hails from the Bishops’ High School, said in his address, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”

Kelman, delivering the last address, also spoke on all of the motions and reiterated his government’s position in each one. His address combined his great skill in intonation with a distinguished eloquence which received a rousing show of support from his colleagues, spectators and even some members of the opposition. In the end, it came as no surprise that Kelman was adjudged the Best Debater and Ahsidally copped the Best Speaker title. And at the end of the day’s proceedings, the government side of the house emerged victorious. These highly-anticipated debates will continue today as students from the University of Guyana (UG) share their arguments.