St. Joseph’s Basic Cycle School on Wednesday, held a debate competition at the school in Banjul.

The competition was funded by WIDEAWAKE through Better Africa Youth Initiative (BAYI). The motion was: 'Corporal punishment should be abolished in school' Speaking at the occasion, Boaky Yiadom, deputising for the principal of the school, expressed delight at receiving the members of BAYI in their school and also commended the students who participated effectively in making the day a success. He disclosed that the topic which has been debated in so many places.

Yiadom further thanked BAYI and also the students debaters  for conducting themselves well during the debate. For her part, Oumie Bah, a member of Better Africa Youth Initiative (BAYI), said that the  objectives of BAYI is to provide leadership skill for their members. She expressd conviction that the debate competition will  contribute to providing leadership skills among the students and to help them in public speech. Bah thanked the school administration for letting them organise the debate competition for the students.  

Sheriff Faye, senior teacher at St. Joseph's Basic Cycle School spoke at length on discipline. She noted that many a time people are penalised for doing things wrongly or even convicted. He quoted a well known pan- Africanist, the late Dr Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana who once said: "Education without morality is tantamount to a nonentity". According to him, this simply means that any person however educated you might be, if you do not possess any modest social etiquette, is equal to a person without any special qualities, who has not achieved anything important. At the end of the debate competition, Binta Chorr came out first, followed by Adama Drammeh and Fatoumatta Savage respectively, all of whom  were awarded prizes.