Debating Matters is a debate competition for high school students in India. Originally, a British schools’ debate programme pioneered by the Institute of Ideas (IOI) UK and running very successfully for the last seven years there, it was very well received by the Indian schools when we launched it here in 2008.

Institute of Ideas is the principal partner of the British Council in India, supported by Shell Companies in India along with Wellcome Trust, the world’s largest medical research organisation that has extended their support for the competition in India in 2009-10.

The competition consists of three stages; the online elimination test, the regional finals and the national finals. It is open to students of Class XI and XII of Indian Schools.

Debating Matters is very different from traditional schools’ debate competitions in India. The emphasis is entirely on content of the argument rather than style and diction. The format aims to engage students in debating the complexities of real world issues, like free speech, clinical trials, role of pluralism and diversity in India.

The role of judges is critical in the competition, we involve high level professionals from all fields to interrogate and engage in the debates. To prepare for the debates the students refer to topic guides/reference materials. The topic guides, commissioned by the Institute of Ideas from young professionals working in those fields of enquiry, are extremely helpful in the preparation. The guides can be downloaded from our website and are also excellent education resource.

Our Partners:

We are delighted that Shell Companies in India has joined us as one of the presenters of the competition.

The winners of the Online Elimination Test have been announced.

Find out more about DEBATING MATTERS INDIA

Indian school wins debate against UK winner of Debating Matters in London

Download the School structure for the regional finals