Liberian Adventist High School Wins National Debate Championship
26 June 2018 | Liberia’s Paynesville Seventh-day Adventist High School recently took first place in the Liberia National High School Championship Debate.
According to Liberia’s Daily Observer, the school beat J.J. Roberts United Methodist School to win the title in the competition that took place on Sunday, June 3.
The final score was 87-85 awarded by a three-judge panel headed by Meo D. Beyan, Assistant Minister for Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Justice.
Paynesville SDA won a cash prize of USD $2,000, while J.J. Roberts won US$1,000.
The topic for the debate was: “Article 54 of the Liberian Constitution Must be Amended to Elect Superintendents for the Purpose of Effective Decentralization of our Governance System.”
The Adventist team won the debate by arguing that the present structure of government where the president appoints superintendent means that these officials are not held accountable to the electorate. The team argued that this leads to dictatorship and underdevelopment in the country.
Teams from over 80 schools from seven counties nationwide took part in the event which was sponsored by Orange Liberia and the Ministry of Education (MoE).
The West Africa Union Mission to which Liberia belongs, has 31,852 members and 124 churches according to the Adventist denomination’s Office of Archives, Statistics and Research.
