The Frank Anthony Memorial All-India Inter-School English Debate is held in the honor of Frank Anthony.
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It is among the most prestigious inter-school, annual debate competition organised by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CICSE). Participants represent their schools and are divided into two groups (Category I for students of Standards XI and XII and Category II for students of Standards IX and X). Over 1,600 schools participate in the event each year.
The Debate competition is spread over three levels - Regional, Zonal and National Levels.
Each school sends two students from each group mentioned above. The topic is only revealed to the students an hour before the actual debate by way of opening a sealed envelope in their presence. This ensures that no pre-written material can be used in the debate. Students are expected to speak for a total time period of four minutes which is followed by two minutes of questioning and rebuttals. The students are allowed to and expected to refer to journals, magazines, and other books from the library during the one hour time to generate matter for their speaking time. No internet access or use of any electronic devices is allowed and referring to a written script during their speaking time is strictly discouraged.
The debate stands out from other debate competitions because of its highly competitive and elitist edge.
The debate is only open to CISCE accredited schools.
Round 3 - National
Category 2
Round 3 - National
Category 2
Category 1
Round 1 - Regional
The first round of debate of the year 2014 was conducted in the following schools and zones with the topic mentioned accordingly.
Round 2 - Zonal
The Level I Debate was won by The Heritage School, Kolkata. Mohit Poddar, of The Heritage School, Kolkata was adjudged the Best Speaker in the Finals while Loyola School, Jamshedpur were the runners-up. The 2015 level II debate was won by Aayush Rathod and Shrutika Mane of the Smt. Sulochanadevi Singhania School, Thane and was held in Dehradun. Loyola School, Jamshedpur was the 2nd Runners-Up in this category too.
The first round of the debate in 2016 was on July 15th.