JEDDAH — Public Private Participation or P3 is the best formula for sustainable development while pursuing an accelerated and eco-friendly economic growth by any nation or people.
Taking part at the grand finale of MES Al Abeer Educity ESEL Competition 2014 held recently in Jeddah, the young speakers highlighted this point and cited numerous examples of successful PPP experiments at the national and global levels, such as giant infrastructure, airport and industrial projects.
Nineteen outstanding talented teens from among 5,300 Indian higher secondary school students from the western region of Saudi Arabia participated in the finale held at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru hall of International Indian School Jeddah's girls section.
Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Mohamed Ashraf, president of the Jeddah chapter of MES, said that the names of the winners in four categories of the competition will be announced later and the prize distribution ceremony will be held in the presence of distinguished dignitaries from India and the Kingdom.
“Winners of both the essay writing and elocution competitions will be honored separately in addition to the overall ESEL (essay and elocution) champions in four categories. The four champion speakers will be given an opportunity to speak before an august audience during the function,” he said.
Inaugurating the finale, IISJ Managing Committee Chairman Mohamed Abdul Raziq, commended the efforts on part of MES and Al Abeer Group to organize an event of such a huge magnitude with various phases spanning over several months.
The final competition was held in separate rounds of prepared and extempore speeches. For the prepared speech, topics and additional materials were given to contestants a week in advance.
The competitions kicked off with the topic of “Public Private Participation for Sustainable Development” for secondary boys.
The speakers highlighted the emerging trend in the new world economic order where private sector join hands with the public sector to accelerate national development.
The speakers were Aditya Andotra (Class 10, New Al Wurood), Mohammed Fahim (Class 9, Shati Al Noor), Mithil Rao (Class 9, IISJ), Nabhan Abdul Azeez (Class 9, IISJ), Atiq Ur Rahman Khan (Class 10, DPS Jeddah) and Ashmar Valapra (Class 10, New Al Wurood).
“The Rights of the Girl Child in India” was the topic for secondary girls.
The fired-up participants seemed in no way to settle anything less than complete equality with their opposite gender. The contestants tried to emphasize that the concept was gaining momentum in the country especially after the brutal gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old young woman Nirbhaya in New Delhi.
The speakers highlighted that empowerment of women would lead to sustainable development.
Those who spoke included Swalima Hyder Shaikh (Class 9, DPS Jeddah), Mushk Mohamed (Glass 10, Mahd Al Uloom), Mahira Subair (Class 10, Mahd Al Uloom), Sinsima Sajna (Class 10, Mahd Al Uloom) and Taqiya Yousuf Meer (Class 9, IISJ).
The debate on divergent topics took a more serious turn with the advent of senior secondary boys and girls. They were asked to speak on the same topic of “Beyond 2020: A vision for tomorrow's India - The role of the Indian Diaspora in this development agenda.”
The speakers presented powerfully their dreams, aspirations and visions in becoming part of an emerging India.
They discussed concrete plans and projects on nation building and drew attention to the key role to be played by the Indian diaspora over the years ahead.
The speakers among boys were Usaid Saudi Changan (Class 12, IISJ), Hafiz Musthafa (Class 12, New Al Wurood), Muhit Masood (Class 11, IISJ) and Ibrahim Manzoor (Class 11, IIS Taif), and girls were Fathima Zahra PA (Class 12, IISJ), Hanaan Ashraf (Class 11, New Al Wurood), Dina Valapra (Class 11, IISJ) and Syeda Farheen Fatima (Class 11, IISJ).
The prepared speech round was followed by an extempore in which students exhibited their quick wits and presence of mind in talking on light topics given to them.
The panel of jury is comprised Ifthiqar, Nasir Khurshid, Gopi Nedungadi and P.P. Rahim. Shafeeq was the timer.
The judges spoke highly about the quality of the debates, commenting that they had a difficult time as far as evaluations were concerned.
Yousuf Valapra, parent of two contestants, said: “I am very happy that both my children - son and daughter from different schools – have been qualified into the final. This was a moment of great pride for me and developing communication skills is one of the most important life skills for a distinguished career”.
In spite of the approaching busy exam season, all but two of the 21 finalists turned up for the event, signaling the seriousness with which the event was taken by participants and their parents, said Ashraf of MES. “The response was overwhelming and the generous sponsorship by Al Abeer EduCity, a new venture by Al Abeer Group in the field of education in the state of Kerala, and the cooperation from the school managements and students were extremely encouraging,” he said, adding that academics and senior professionals in the region also rendered invaluable support to MES in organizing this major event.
Al-Abeer Group's Corporate Communications Manager Muhammad Emran said: “The event could churn out excellent speakers with a depth of knowledge on wide ranging topics.”
He added that all the participants of the final round, irrespective of winning positions would be felicitated by a separate event by Al Abeer Group.
The announcement was greeted by a huge applause from the students, parents and the organizers.
Muhammed Alungal, chairman and managing director of Al Abeer Group and chairman of the Educity, had attended the soft launch of the ESEL Competition on March 14 last year.
ESEL involved three stages, and the preliminary round of essay competition was followed by semifinal competition in elocution before the grand finale. Alungal said that his organization is extremely happy to associate with MES in organizing such a beneficial program to promote the cause of education among the Indian expatriate students community.
Shehriyar Becker, general convener of the event, welcomed the gathering while N.M. Jamaludddin, secretary of Jeddah MES, proposed a vote of thanks.
Ashra Farhat and Ashfaq Ashraf were the contest masters of the day.
