How we select our teams

ISDS works hard to expand access to debating for students from diverse backgrounds. In 2019, the entire Indian contingent (including the development squads) was gender-balanced, and had speakers representing regions around the country, including Surat, Jaipur, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. We were particularly extremely proud of the Main Team because it is the first Indian team, as well as one of the first debate teams in the world to select and train a completely visually impaired speaker. As part of its commitment to inclusivity, ISDS will also be expanding its existing access programme where it reaches state schools to cover more low-income schools in 2019-2020.

Our bottom-line is that we want students who love debate,
regardless of where they come from.

Initially, in every city, when schools join the fold, trainers from the Indian Schools Debating Society (ISDS) engage students and teachers in workshops to teach the WSDC format. Students trained in past trials and teams also take up the initiative to train students in their own schools, and set up debating clubs in their schools.

This year, ISDS is launching its first set of intensive, paid workshops for schools. If you are interested in learning from the best, please contact us on amrithavarshini@indianschoolsdebatingsociety.com or ragini@indianschoolsdebatingsociety.com.

Following these workshops, we give students the ability to display their skill and put into practice the learning from the workshop in debating rounds. For some of these rounds, topics are pre released. For others, they are released an hour before the debate begins. Teachers who are workshopped judge at these rounds, to apply their learning and support capacity development within the region. From these city tournaments, the best speakers are selected to attend Zonal Selection Camps.

From the various city tournaments in a zone, the top 24-32 speakers attend Zonal camps. Over four days at these camps, trainers work closely with students, and teach them crucial skills (policy creation, argument building, rebuttal, etc.) to equip them for World Schools debating. From these camps, the best few students are then invited to attend the National selection camp.

The top 48-54 students from all over the country are invited to Nationals in Chennai around December. This is a 5-6 day process, where each student’s individual needs are assessed, and students are placed with trainers that best match their strengths and development areas. Throughout camp, students are evaluated on their speaking ability, improvement over time, knowledge of world affairs and teamwork. At the end of camp, the top students are selected to be on the Indian squad.