Who Are We?

We are a non-profit volunteer-run organisation that aims to develop, nurture, and promote debating in Singapore. Together with our volunteers, we reach out to those who have not yet discovered debating, and to those who already love the sport. We help schools, teachers, coaches and students by organising competitions, running training programs and camps, and providing resources for them. We work with partners from all industries who are keen to use debates as a means to achieve their objectives.

What Do We Do for the Debate Community?

Since our inception in 1999, the DA(S) has conducted training programmes, organised competitions and workshops, and done our best to improve the quality of debate in Singapore. Some of our recent notable projects include:

• The DA(S) worked with Mediacorp to create and run the International Emmy-nominated TV debate show, The Arena. The show received strong public support and helped generate more interest in debate.
• We partnered with Julia Gabriel’s Centre for Learning to run the annual Secondary School Debate Competition. This year, almost 90 secondary schools participated (both local and foreign system schools), spread among 3 divisions, making it logistically one of the biggest debate competitions in the world. We also offer free training to schools which have no debate experience and wish to participate in the competition for the first time.
• The Debating Association (Singapore) together with Gifted Education Branch, MOE and Hwa Chong institution jointly launched Wits & Words 2010, a national primary school debating competition, which saw 33 teams participating this year. The Grand Final was attended by almost a thousand students, teachers, and parents.
• The DA(S) is the main body in Singapore that trains, qualifies, and manages the large pool of volunteer debate judges. The quality of our adjudicators have received international acclaim – in 2007 and in 2008, the Chief Adjudicators for the World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) were former Executive Committee members of the DA(S) (respectively Mr Mark Gabriel and Mr Aaron Maniam).
• Our annual debate training programmes consistently produce almost all the national team debaters, and many internationally-ranked debaters. Our coaches have included former Executive Committee members like Mr Jonathan Pflug, who was the best speaker in the world for the WSDC in 2000, among many other top national and international Singaporean debaters.

The Importance of Debating.

MOE has also long espoused the value of debating – former Minister for Education Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam stated in his speech in 2007, “The emphasis in the English Language Syllabus is supported by complementary activities in and outside the school compound. Debating, in particular, stand outs as one such activity. Students come to grips with thinking on their feet and getting their points across effectively. It is a matter not just of logic, but of persuasion.”

We believe that our education system currently prepares students with the knowledge they need to do well in university and the working world – debate training prepares our students further by equipping them with the ability to think clearly under pressure, speak with confidence, analyse complex arguments, and have a good grasp of current affairs.

Almost every year, student debaters who have been part of DA(S)’ training programmes achieve excellence – in 2009 alone, the top students at LSE (Mr Jonathan Chong), Oxford (Mr Li Sheng Wu), and President’s Scholar Mr Jonathan Au Yong have openly credited debate as one of the reasons for their successes. Minister (Community Development, Youth and Sports) Dr Vivian Balakrishnan was a prominent young debater during his NUS days. Debaters (more so than most ECAs) also feature often among Singapore’s list of President’s Scholars:

• 2009: Mr Jonathan Au Yong
• 2006: Ms Tan Li Feng
• 2003: Mr Wong Shi Ming
• 2002: Ms Peggy Pao Pei Yu

Even students from weaker schools, when taught how to debate properly by trained coaches or teachers, are able to express themselves and build up their self-confidence. In 2007, a team from Loyang Secondary School, a neighbourhood school with little debate history, managed to beat Raffles Institution in the televised Arena debates – the change in the self-confidence of the Loyang students (both the debaters and the supporters) was immediately noticeable.

Debate has proven itself to be an activity that can change lives for the better.  Join your school debate club today!

About Us: Goals | Executive Committee | In the Press | Newsletter | Membership | Partnering Us

Activities: Competitions | Training Programmes | Events & Announcements

Articles: Debaters | Teachers | Coaches | Judges

Resources: Rules & Guides | Past Motions & Results | Debate Videos | Links

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